The Lightning Thief
by PinkFan-Gurl
Summary: While Artemis was challanged to a duel on Circe's Island, Thalia stumbles across 10 books labled Percy Jackson and the Olympians and Heroes of Olympus. Thalia brings the books back to Camp Half-Blood.WARNING: This story has caused people to choke on their dinner, fall off their chairs, get in trouble for laughing in libraries and receive weird looks from their parents. All couples
1. Thalia Stops by for a Visit

**Thalia Stops By For a Visit**

Thalia dodged the blast by an inch. She could almost feel the singing of her choppy black hair-as if her hair could get even more ratty. Rolling behind the fallen log, her bow materilized on her back giving her enough time to nock an arrow. She peeked her head up over the log, but the monster had seemed to have disappeared. The entrance to Camp Half-Blood was only 100 yards away. The Golden Fleece glittered in the boughs of the immense pine tree that was named after her.

Thalia's blue eyes caught a sight of movement a bit off to her right. Nocking an arrow, the daughter of Zeus pulled back on the cord. She waited a moment, and Carmen fled from the bushes. Carmen was one of the newest Hunters. She had once been a mortal, but after having her father leave her just a few dreadful days before, she had greatly sworn off men in exchange to become a Hunter of Artemis. Carmen had long black hair that curled at the bottoms and sea green eyes. She looked about 12 years old, but she was really 14 now. Her darkly tanned skin seemed to radiate the moonlight, the same way all Hunters did. It was Thalia's job to help her out and keep her safe.

Thalia covered Carmen while she hurried over to Thalia. "Where's Phoebe?" Thalia hissed. She glanced around, half expecting to find Phoebe trying to be a hero and fending off the manticore by herself.

"I'm not sure. After we separated, she kind of just left me behind that bush. When i saw you, i tried to get to you as fast as i could." Carmen replied. She reached for her bow. She still found it fascinating that her bow and sling of arrows would just appear when she needed them. She nocked up an arrow and stood back to back with Thalia.

"Phoebe. Where did you go?" Thalia muttered under her breath. Okay Thalia. If the manticore disappeared around the time Phoebe abandoned Carmen, then she was probably buying her some time. She patted the messenger bag slung across her torso. A sigh escaped her lips, knowing that she still had those books. Thalia tapped her silver bracelet and Aegis sprang out-the horrible face of Medusa potent enough to scare even the bravest demigods and monsters. "Alright. Carmen, we're gonna make a break for the entrance. See the pine tree?" Carmen nodded, keeping her almond eyes on the look out. "Thats Half-Blood Hill, the entrance to camp. Hopefully Phoebe will meet us there."

Thalia held out her shield, tearing through the underbrush towards the entrance to camp, Carmen's heavy footsteps pounding behind her. Right when Thalia was starting to relax, her old buddy Dr Thorn jumped out in front of the entryway. She skidded to a stop, thrusting a hand out in front of Carmen. "Dr Thorn," Thalia greeted in a menacing tone. "How's it been old friend?"

The manticore sneered, his scorpian like tail flickering behind him. "Miss Grace. Such a horrible inconvenience to see you again."

"Where's Phoebe-" Thalia risked a quick glance to the right. Phoebe stumbled out from behind a tree. Her blonde hair was knotted up and her jacket was ripped in several places. "Phoebe!?" Thalia kept her fierce gaze on Dr Thorn.

Phoebe nocked three arrows. "Sorry. Cyclops." Releasing the bow string, the arrows sailed true and sank into the side of the manticore. He yowled in pain.

Thalia dived forward, pounding her shield into the dazed manticore's face. The manticore stumbled back from the pine tree, giving Thalia just enough space to creep around while Carmen and Phoebe kept him busy with arrows. Dr Thorn whirled around just as Thalia released her bow string. The arrow whistled through the air, embedding itself in the manticore's forehead. Immediatly, he burst into golden colored dust that dispersed along the ground.

Carmen and Phoebe slung their bows across their backs, disappearing as they always do. Thalia tapped her bracelet and Aegis shrunk back down. "You guys alright?" She asked, brushing pickers and brambles from her silver jacket and black jeans.

Carmen noddded, clearly shaken. Phoebe shrugged. She was way more used to life as a Hunter than Carmen was. "Sorry about leaving ya, behind." Phoebe punched Carmen softly on the shoulder. "Cyclops sounded just like Thalia. Ended up being an ugly old Cyclops."

Thalia scowled. "Its fine." Shes studied the coloring of the sky. It was an inky blue, the color it gets when the sun is about to rise. She shouldered her messenger bag, relieved to find that all of the contents were still safe inside. "We'd better get to camp before anything else comes."

Phoebe sniffed her nose. Her hazel eyes shimmered and her blonde hair wafted in the breeze. "I don't quite understand why you are so connected to this camp. Its been a few years since you've become a Hunter."

Thalia glared daggers at Phoebe, blue electrical currents dancing at her fingertips. "They are my family, and I care fo them." She turned abruptly on her heels and stomped toward the hill and pine tree. She didn't wait for the other two-they could catch up. She passed beyond the borders of Half-Blood Hill and instantly felt like she was home.

She strolled down the hill toward the Big House. She had figured that the person mostly adept for processing this kind of information would be Chiron. Mr D could probably care less. The sun wasn't up yet, so the odds of Chiron being up weren't likely. She was half way down the hill when a hand touched her shoulder. She whipped around, Aegis spiraling out in front of her.

"Take it easy, Thalia. Its me." Nico smirked at her. Thalia rolled her eyes as she dismissed Aegis. He was still dressed entirely in black-black jeans, a black t-shirt with cross bones, black converse, and his aviator jacket over the top. The black Stygian sword that he started carrying at 11 was sheathed at his side. His dark hair was messy and his brown eyes had that sarcastic edge to them.

"Nico, what are you doing up at this ungodly hour?" Thalia muttered. She heard the crunching of leaves and figured Carmen and Phoebe were close.

Nico shrugged, shoving his hands into his back pockets. "Son of Hades. I tend to be up at this hour. However," he narrowed his eyes at Thalia in a suspicious yet teasing way. "What is the amazing Thalia Grace doing lurking around at this time? Haven't heard from you in months."

Thalia shook her head, clearly annoyed by the younger boy. "I have something important to show Chiron." Phoebe and Carmen joined their group.

Phoebe scowled at Nico, clearly stating that he was a lesser being. "Son of Hades," she spat distastfully.

"Phoebe," Nico replied with a bitter edge. He glanced at Carmen, then looked away uninterested. "What's so important that you had to sneak into camp and tell Chiron?" He directed the question back at Thalia who seemed to be the only Hunter who wouldn't cold shoulder him, besides Bianca, but that was a long story.

Thalia stomped down the hill, her black spiked hair bouncing slightly. Nico chased after her until he fell into step with her. "First of all di Angelo, we didn't sneak. We actually had an encounter with our old pal Dr Thorn. 'Member him?"

Nice scowled at his feet. "Thorn. The first monster to come after me and Bianca."

"Bingo," Thalia muttered. "Phoebe, you and Carmen go to the Artemis cabin and try to get a few hours of sleep." She didn't look over at the two who mosied on to the moonlit cabin, but as a lieutenant of Artemis what she said goes. She climbed the steps to the Big House with Nico in pursuit. "Nico, you can go to sleep."

"I don't wanna."

Thalia opened the door and shuffled into the blue house. Nico crashed on the couch, running a finger down the sleek blade of his Stygian sword. She clomped down the hallway until she reached the centaur's bedroom door. She rasped on the door three times. After going unanswered for a minute, she was ready to knock again when Chiron opened the door. His white stallion body looked normal and his man half was wearing a Party Pony t-shirt. Thalia stifled a laugh, considering how different Chiron was from his rambunctious cousins.

"Thalia? What are you doing here? At this time?" He noticed Nico down the hallway. Nico waved to him awkwardly. "Nico...?"

Thalia opened her messenger back and pulled out a thick chapter book. "Chiron, I thought i should show you something." She held the book up so he could see the title. _Pery Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Theif. _

Chiron's eyes widened at the sight of the book. "How...could this be?" he asked himself quietly.

Thalia opened her bag up wider. "Theres more." Chiron looked into her bag to find nine other books in it. "I found them hidden on Circe's Island when Artemis was challanged to a duel there. I asked for leave and got here as fast as I could."

Chiron looked up, pure shock still present in his eyes. "You traveled from the Sea of Monsters to Camp Half-Blood alone? My dear, that is incredably dangerous."

Thalia smiled. "Of course not Chiron. I came with Phoebe and a newer Hunter named Carmen. They're in the Artemis cabin now." She waited hesitantly to see what Chiron would decide about this bazar book discovery.

Chiron shifted his wait from his front legs to his back legs. His tail flicked uneasily, obviously trying to run several scenarios through his mind at once. Finally, he accepted the novel from Thalia's outstretched hands. She slid the strap off from around her neck and handed it to him. The centaur kept a firm grip on the messenger bag. He nodded slowly, eyes glued to the cover of the book, an image that was unmistakenly Percy. "We will address this matter in a few hours when day breaks. You should probably retire to your cabin to try and rest a bit." He glanced down the hallway at Nico who was leaning against the door frame nonchalantly. "That goes for you as well Mr di Angelo." Nico saluted before leaving the house.

Thalia managed a smile as she left the Big House toward the Artemis cabin. She had debated on whether she should visit Annabeth or Percy to let them know she was there, but decided she would see them in a little bit. She wondered if Jason was asleep in the Zeus cabin right now. Mounting the steps to the cabin, Thalia was greeted by the soft snores of Carmen and Phoebe.

* * *

Annabeth slipped out of bed, her body stiff from sword fighting with Jason and Percy the night before. Hazel and Piper had stopped by last night to discuss a book they had read on the account of Annabeth's recomendation. She was alone in the cabin signaling that it was probably almost breakfast. Malcolm, her half brother, had come to the realization months ago that if she had friends over the night before, let her sleep in which she is grateful for.

Wasting no time to get ready, she pulled on a clean orange Camp Half-Blood t-shirt and a pair of blue cut off jeans. A green ponytail holder was on her wrist so she pulled her hair into a high ponytail that curled at the end. Just as Annabeth slipped her new dagger (she lost her old one in Tartarus) into its sheath, a loud banging was coming from the door.

Annabeth rolled her eyes, figuring it was Leo about some project he made or Percy to tell about his dreams. She opened the door to find Thalia, Grover, and Percy standing on the doorstep. "Thalia!" Annabeth flung her arms around her friend.

"Hey kiddo!" Thalia greeted back. She sounded a little uptight, but coming from Thalia, that was pretty normal.

"Kiddo? We're older than you now." Percy pointed out. Thalia scowled. Annabeth smiled.

Grover grinned. "Thalia and two other Hunters made it to camp last night."

"Phoebe?" Percy asked. Thalia nodded. "Who's the second one? Zoë Nightshade's ghost?"

Grover elbowed Percy in the side. "Dude, respect." Percy rolled his eyes, but actually did feel bad for making that comment.

"Nah, she's new. Name's Carmen. You'll meet her at breakfast." Thalia ran a hand through her hair. She had decided not to wear her Huntress jacket, so she was wearing ripped jeans and a orange camp t-shirt.

"Carmen." Grover repeated dreamily.

"What about Juniper?" Annabeth smirked. Grover grinned sheepishly, as if he just remembered that he had a girlfriend.

Piper jogged up behind them. Her hair was messy and she was wearing a purple top, a turquoise hoody, and blue jeans. Her dagger hung at her waist. "Guys. Chiron has an important announcement. He wants everyone at the dining pavilion." She flashed a smile at Thalia, who accepted the gesture on a friendly level. "Hey Thalia."

"Hey Piper."

Piper jogged off towards the pavilion where the other campers were already grouping at their respected tables. Percy poked Thalia's shoulder. "Look at you, little miss popular."

Annabeth put her hands on her hips in a teasing fashion. You might even pass up Drew."

Thalia clenched a fist and gagged. "Ever compare me to that thing again, and I'll grill ya."

"Glad to have you back, Pinecone Face." Percy said, clapping Thalia on the back. A zap of electricity courses through his hand and up to his shoulder. "Ouch!"

Thalia shrugged. "I'm a defensive person." She pulled up her sagging pants and brushed away some of her hair from off her neck.

Annabeth laughed, slipping her hand into Percy's. "Just like old times."

"Old times. As in the Titan War." Grover agreed, nibbling on a Diet Coke can.

The group made it to the dining pavilion and split up. Annabeth joined her sisters and brothers at the Athena cabin while Thalia sat with Jason at Zeus's table for a bit before joining Phoebe and the new Hunter at Artemis's table. All of his other friends had siblings talk to- Piper had Lacy and Marshall, Leo had Nyssa and a few new campers that really looked up to him. (They were seven. Twins) Hazel and Nico sat together, and Frank had Clarisse, though they were nothing alike. Even now Jason had his sister. Percy took his seat at the Poseidon table. Tyson was due for a visit any day now, so he might not be alone for a bit.

His goblet filled up with blue orange juice as Chiron cantered to the front of the pavilion. He had a bag slung over his torso that was obviously the property of a Hunter, the way it seemed to have been dipped in liquid moonlight. He clamped. and everyone fell silent. "First things first, we welcome our three friends, the Hunters of Artemis." The crowd applauded and Thalia blushed, trying to turn the attention away from her. "Further more, our friend Thalia-"

"Hey Thalia! Call Me!" Leo shouted from the Hephaestus table. Percy restrained a laugh. Leo was so dead.

"Mr Valdez," Chiron chided. "Please show some restraint." Leo still had some laughs coming from the Hermes cabin, mainly the Stoll brothers. "I assembled you here-"

"Assembled? Uh, Chiron, I'm pretty sure we meet here for breakfast everyday." Clarisse pointed out in a snarky attitude. Frank rubbed his forehead in exasperation. Annabeth sent a a look of sympathy toward him.

"Miss La Rue, I'm sure that you would not care to clean the Pegasus stables today?" Clarisse looked at the table, becoming suddenly interested with a fork. "In any manner, the Hunters came across the book series _Percy Jackson and the Olympians." _The camp gasped.

Percy spewed juice across his table, grateful that no one was sitting across from him. "What? Me?"

"Why does he get a book?" Conner Stoll asked, rising from his seat.

"I want a book written about me!" Travis complained standing up beside his brother.

"Travis! Don't you find it a little weird that it's written about Percy on that extent?" Katie, Travis' girlfriend, asked him from Demeter's table.

"Like, stalker level?" Hazel added. , stabbing a French toast stick with his fork.

"No," Travis replied.

"It's better that it's in Percy's perspective." Drew said while filing her nails. "Travis is boring." Travis and Annabeth shot her glares. "Honestly, I think it would be better in Jason's perspective." She shot a wink at Jason. He turned away uncomfortable. Piper shot her a venomous glare.

"Please quiet down. When breakfast is done, meet by the campfire. I think that it is important that we understand how these stories were documented." Chiron continued, ignoring the interruptions.

Malcolm stood from Athena. "I think that should get started right now Chiron."

"I second that." Annabeth agreed rising. She didn't add that it would be fun to relive her adventures with Percy without being in danger.

"Shoot yeah!" Travis exclaimed.

"Sounds more fun than eating." Conner agreed.

"I finished anyway." Katie announced, getting up as well.

"I wasn't gonna eat anyways." Nico got up.

"I'd rather read." Hazel pushed away her plate of half eaten omelette.

"I would like to hear about Percy's adventures." Frank stood up from the Ares table.

Clarisse rolled her eyes. "And you call yourself a son of Mars." She muttered.

"I also agree, Chiron." Chris Rodriquez announced from Hermes table.

Clarisse jumped up instantly. "Lets read his Chiron."

"And you wonder if I'm related to Mars?" Frank muttered under his breath. Clarisse pretended not to hear him, or else she'd have to fight and it was still too early for that.

"Come on Chiron. Skipping breakfast won't be so bad." Piper joined from Aphrodite's table. Lacy nodded eagerly, her blonde pigtails bobbing.

"Besides, a good portion of campers just use breakfast as social hour before the camp activities start." Jason added.

"I'm one of those people!" Leo called out, a smirk on his face.

"No one cares, Valdez!" Someone at Apollo's cabin exclaimed.

"Amber!" Rachel shoved a girl with dark hair braided down her back.

Chiron stomped his right foreleg. "Please, will you all be quiet." The dining pavilion quieted down. "Being that this series is written in the perspective of Percy, I'll let him decide when we should begin reading." He looked up at Percy.

Percy felt like spewing more juice, but everyone at camp was watching him. Coughing up blue juice would not help his image. He could feel heat rising in his cheeks. "Um., sure. We could skip breakfast."

Roars of cheers erupted out of the dining pavilion as swarms of kids started for the campfire. Percy came up beside Annabeth, slipping his hand into hers. "Hey Wise Girl."

Annabeth grinned, her grey eyes sparkling. "This is gonna be so cool. Reading about our adventures!"

Thalia, Piper, and Jason joined Annabeth and Percy. Jason greeted Percy with a casual knuckle punch. "Percy! Dude, I didn't know you wrote a book series!" Jason exclaimed. The five teens moved with the crowd toward the arena.

"Honestly, I didn't either." Percy answered.

"I think we can agree that this will definitely be an unforgettable book series." Annabeth smiled, swinging her and Percy's hands back and forth.

"Kelp for Brains writing anything is legendary." Thalia laughed.

"Lets go!" Piper enthused, yanking on Jason's arm. "I'm really pumped about this!"

* * *

**I understand that this is a very popular idea, retelling the PJO books but no one ever seems to finish them. So I am going to do the entire first series hopefully by the time Blood of Olympus is released next fall. And I am so dedicated to this story I could cry.**

**AN: References to all the books are more than likely to be present. Also, Nico is not gay in this. I always thought he had a crush on Annabeth, so that's how I have always and will always depict it. So yeah. I'll finish it so don't worry.**

**-PFG **


	2. Rachel's Old Rival

**Chapter One: Rachel's Old Rival**

Percy tried not to let the aspect of a book series written in his point of view creep him out. But how could someone have been able to tap into his inner most thoughts? If this turned out to be some practical joke from the gods, he was not going to be a happy camper.

Annabeth led him down a row of people to the front of the arena with Thalia, Jason, and Piper immediately behind. Grover stood up from his spot and waved them over. Percy grinned as he sat between Grover and Annabeth, his two best friends. Thalia sat on the left of Annabeth, Piper beside Thalia, and then Jason. Drew made a move to sit next to Jason, but Leo absent mindedly plopped down before she close. Percy laughed internally at the smug look Piper shot her nemesis.

Leo leaned forward, flashing a crooked smile at Thalia. "Miss Thalia. What a lovely surprise."

Thalia scoffed. "Leo Valdez, I had hoped to never see you again."

Leo nudged Jason's shoulder. "Dude, you'd better keep an eye on your sister. She's flirting with me."

Jason rolled his eyes. Annabeth muffled a laugh. "Leo, you on a downward spiral."

"Yeah, Leo. You'd have a better chance with Calypso." Hazel added. Everyone turned back in their spots. Behind them, Hazel, Nick, Frank, Rachel, Clarisse, Chris, Carmen, Phoebe, the Stolls, and Katie were all waiting for the book to be read.

"Speaking of Calypso," Leo glanced at Percy, annoyance flickering in his gaze.

Percy really wanted to dodge out of this question. He had never had feelings for Calypso even though she had been really nice. But hey, he was 14 then and wasn't really looking for an infinite relationship. Besides, with Annabeth having kissed him, he was more willing to see where that would lead them.

Luckily, Percy didn't have to dodge the question. Frank changed the subject for him. "I wonder if reading them would make the more epic."

"I'm not so sure how lighting could affect the story much." Rachel answered. She had charcoal on her cheek, so she must have been working on an art project. In her hand was half a bagel with cream cheese that she hadn't gotten to finish.

"It really wouldn't matter if it was 80°F or -80°F and snowing." Travis grinned. "Percys life story is probably the most epic thing recorded on earth."

"Travis, you do realize that the magical weather protection barrier would stop it from getting that intense right?" Hazel asked, glancing to her right.

Katie and Conner laughed at the perplexed look on Travis' face. "You just got owned!" Katie giggled.

"Will you pansies just stop being idiots?" Clarisse scolded, shooting death stares at everyone.

"Geez Clarisse, if you don't want to hear about my miraculous life, why did you come?" Percy asked, a borderline smirk across his face. Annabeth jabbed his side, silently telling him to not make Clarisse angry.

Clarisse rolled her eyes. "We are friends, dummy."

"I'd say you two are more like rivals." Rachel suggested. Her bagel was gone.

"Yeah. That could work." Piper agreed. Clarisse nodded.

Leo grinned. "Oh ho. So ya'll like frenemies."

Clarisse smacked the back of Leo's head. "Don't ever say that sissy word about me again, Valdez."

Leo kept grinning. "Two things. First, why has everyone been calling me Valdez today?"

"Sorry. Maybe we'll call you Leonardo instead," Jason smiled, his shaggy blonde hair falling over his blue eyes.

Leo's smile fell for a split second. "Hey man, you said you wouldn't tell anyone my real first name."

"You're first name's Leonardo? We kind of already figured that out." Chris muttered, ruffling up Leo's curly black hair.

"What else did you want to say Leo?" Annabeth asked, touching the bridge of her nose.

"Did anyone else see Frenemies on Disney Channel?"

The comment was rewarded with a sea of laughs. The entire stadium/arena was filled with booming laughter that it took Chiron almost ten minutes to quiet everyone down. Once everyone was quiet and sane again (as sane as a demigod can get) he held up the _Lightning Thief._ "We will now begin, and please Mr Valdez," he eyed Leo conspiciously. Leo stood up and bowed, earning a clap on the back by the Stolls. "No distractions."

Percy, Annabeth, and Grover inched closer as Chiron cleared his throat and began to read.

**THE LIGHTNING THIEF: ****I ACCIDENTALLY VAPORIZE MY PRE-ALGEBRA TEACHER**

**Look, I didn't want to be a half-blood. **

"Most people never do." Piper muttered dryly.

"Join the club." Phoebe murmured back. Katie, Carmen, and Travis gave her a look. "What? I was a demigod before i became a Hunter. Daughter of Hecate."

**If you're reading this because you think you might be one, my advice is: c****lose this book right now**.**Believe whatever lie your mom or dad told you about your birth, and try to lead a normal life. ****Being a half-blood is dangerous. It's scary. Most of the time, it gets you killed in painful, nasty ways.**

"That is very true." Thalia conceded.

"Like Silena did. Poisonous spit to the-" Conner stopped midsentence by Clarisse's murderous glare. Chris placed a comforting hand on her's but that didn't take away her anger.

**If you're a normal kid, reading this because you think it's fiction, great. Read on. I envy you for being able to believe that none of this ever happened. ****But if you recognize yourself in these pages—if you feel something stirring inside—stop reading immediately. You might be one of us. And once you know that, it's only a matter of time before ****_they _****sense it too, and they'll come for you. ****Don't say I didn't warn you**.

**My name is Percy Jackson.**

Percy smiled mildly embarressed as the other campers started cheering at his name. Annabeth squeezed his hand and planted a kiss on his cheek.

**I'm**** twelve years old. Until a ****_few _****months ago, I was a boarding student at Yancy Academy, a private school ****for troubled kids in upstate New York. ****Am I a troubled kid? ****Yeah. You could say that.**

"More than troubled. I'd say virtually insane." Leo commented.

"I think everyone here belongs in a mental institution." Drew insulted. Everyone shot her a deadly stare, but Piper's was the worst. Piper hated Drew's guts like no one's business dating back to their first encounter when Drew had been flirting with Jason.

**I could start at any point in my short miserable life ****to prove it, but things really started going bad last May, when our sixth-grade class took a field trip to Manhattan— twenty-eight mental case kids and two teachers on a yellow school bus h****eading to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to look at ancient Greek and Roman stuff. ****I know—it sounds like torture. Most Yancy field trips were.**

**But Mr. Brunner, our Latin teacher, was leading this trip, so I had hopes. Mr. Brunner was this middle-aged guy in a motorized wheelchair. He had thinning hair and a scruffy beard and a frayed tweed jacket, which always smelled like coffee. You wouldn't think he'd be cool, but he told stories and jokes and let us play games in class. He also had this awesome collection of Roman armor and weapons, so he was the only teacher whose class didn't put me to sleep.**

"How many people would believe that Mr Brunner was really Chiron?" Percy asked. Several hundred hands shot up around the stadium. "My bad."

"Percy? Chiron's human alias has always been Mr Brunner. Way before we were born." Annabeth whispered to him.

"So now you tell me?"

Chiron chuckled, and continued to read.

**I hoped the trip would be okay. At least, I hoped that for once I wouldn't get in trouble. Boy, was I wrong**. **See, bad things happen to me on field trips. ****Like at my fifth-grade school, when we went to the Saratoga battlefield, I had this accident with a Revolutionary War cannon. ****I wasn't aiming for the school bus, but of course I got expelled anyway. ****And before that, at my fourth-grade school, when we took a behind-the-scenes tour of the Marine World shark pool, I sort of hit the wrong lever on the catwalk and our class took an unplanned swim.**

"He's the son of Poseidon alright." Nico grinned, leaning back in his chair.

"Dude, how accident prone can you be?" Frank asked out loud, not addressing anyone in particular.

**And the time before that... Well, you get the idea.**

**This trip, I was determined to be good.**

"And we all see how that turned out," a daughter of Aphrodite commented.

**All the way into the city, I put up with Nancy Bobofit, the freckly, redheaded kleptomaniac girl ****hitting my best friend Grover ****in the back of the head with chunks of peanut butter-and ketchup sandwich.**

Rachel shot up in her seat. "What was that name Chiron?"

"Nancy Bobofit?" Percy, Grover, and Chiron synchronized. Chiron didn't have to look down at the book. He distinctly remembered that little brat.

"She went to Goode Elementary with me!" Rachel held a hand to her lips, surprise clearly in her eyes.

"You knew Nancy?" Grover asked. He had finished his stack of Diet Coke cans and had moved on to the neighboring demigod's shoelaces.

Rachel nodded, relaxing back in her chair. " My old rival back from kindergarten to 4th grade. She got expelled in 5th grade. Haven't seen her since. Gods she was annoying."

"What did she get expelled for?" Jason asked.

"Pickpocketing teachers and students."

"Ohhh!" Grover and Percy sighed together. That made alot of sense.

**Grover was an easy target. He was scrawny. He cried when he got frustrated. He must've been held back several grades, because he was the only sixth grader with acne and the start of a wispy beard on his chin.**** On top of all that, he was crippled. He had a note excusing him from PE ****for the rest of his life because he had some kind of muscular disease in his legs. He walked funny****like every step hurt him, but don't let that fool you. You should've seen him run when it was enchilada day in the cafeteria. **

**Anyway, Nancy Bobofit was throwing wads of sandwich that stuck in his curly brown hair, and she knew I couldn't do anything back to her because I was already on probation. The headmaster had threatened me with death****y in-school suspension if anything bad, embarrassing, or even mildly entertaining happened on this trip.**

**"I'm going to kill her," I mumbled.**

**Grover tried to calm me down. ****"It's okay. I like peanut butter." ****He dodged another piece of Nancy's lunch.**

**"That's it." I started to get up, but Grover pulled me back to my seat.**

**"You're already on probation," he reminded me. "You know who'll get blamed if anything happens."**

**Looking back on it, I wish I'd decked Nancy Bobofit right then and there. In-school suspension would've been nothing compared to the mess I was about to get myself into.**

"Percy what did you do?" Faith, a daughter of Apollo asked. She had dead straight chestnut hair and brown eyes.

"Can't you just wait?" Ryan, a son of Athena and Faith's boyfriend, scolded. Despite being a son of Athena, he had curly brown hair and blue eyes making him semi-similar to Leo. Alot of people found it hard to believe, but his knowledge would tell you otherwise.

Percy gave Faith an apologetic smile. She just grumbled defensively.

**Mr. Brunner led the museum tour.**

**He rode up front in his wheelchair, guiding us through the big echoey galleries, past marble statues and glass cases full of really old black-and-orange pottery. **

**It blew my mind that this stuff had survived for two thousand, three thousand years. He gathered us around a thirteen-foot-tall stone column with a big sphinx on the top, and started telling us how it was a grave marker, a ****_stele, _****for a girl about our age. He told us about the carvings on the sides. I was trying to listen to what he had to say, because it was kind of interesting, but everybody around me was talking, and every time I told them to shut up, the other teacher chaperone, Mrs. Dodds, would give me the evil eye.**

Grover tensed. "Mrs. Dodds. I bet she isn't even a real Mrs."

Nico rolled his eyes as did Hazel. "Ya think?"

**Mrs. Dodds was this little math teacher from Georgia who always wore a black leather jacket, even though she was fifty years old. She looked mean enough to ride a Harley right into your locker. She had come to Yancy halfway through the year, when our last math teacher had a nervous breakdown.**

"Mrs. Dodds' nasty face could give anyone a nervouse breakdown." Percy muttered. He hadn't intended anyone to hear that, but next thing he knew Hazel, Annabeth, Thalia, and Piper were giggling like crazy while Jason and Nico were restraining laughs.

**From her first day, Mrs. Dodds loved Nancy Bobofit and figured I was devil spawn. She would point her crooked finger at me and say, "Now, honey," real sweet, and I knew I was going to get after-school detention for a month.**

**One**** time, after she'd made me erase answers out of old math workbooks until midnight, I told Grover I didn't think Mrs. Dodds was human. He looked at me, real serious, and said, "You're absolutely right."**

"Way to be conspictious Grover." Thalia said sarcasticly.

**Mr. Brunner kept talking about Greek funeral art.**

**Finally, Nancy Bobofit snickered something about the naked guy on the stele, and I turned around and said, "Will you ****_shut up_****?"**

**It came out louder than I meant it to.**

**The whole group laughed. Mr. Brunner stopped his story.**

**"Mr. Jackson," he said, "did you have a comment?" **

**My face was totally red. I said, "No, sir."**

Chiron glanced up, and trained his eyes on Percy who began shifting uncomfortably. He chuckled lightly then resumed his reading.

**Mr. Brunner pointed to one of the pictures on the stele. "Perhaps you'll tell us what this picture represents?" ****I looked at the carving, and felt a flush of relief, because I actually recognized it. ****"That's Kronos eating his kids, right?"**

**"Yes," Mr. Brunner said, obviously not satisfied. "And he ****_did _****this because ..."**

**"Well..." I racked my brain to remember. "Kronos was the king god, and—"**

**"God?" Mr. Brunner asked."**

**"Titan," I corrected myself. "And ... he didn't trust his kids, who were the gods. So, um, Kronos ate them, right? But his wife hid baby Zeus, and gave Kronos a rock to eat instead. And later, when Zeus grew up, he tricked his dad, Kronos, into barfing up his brothers and sisters—"**

"That is _SOOOO _gross!" Drew complained, filing her nails with a pink scented filer she got at the salon.

"Hey Drew!" Annabeth called, grey eyes stormy. Drew glanced up up, batting her lashes. "In the words of Percy, _Shut up!"_ Drew turned pink as everyone started giggling and whispering. Annabeth nodded proudly. Piper gave her a fist bump. Piper/Annabeth: 1. Drew: 0.

**"Eeew!" said one of the girls behind me."**

**"—and so there was this big fight between the gods and the Titans," I continued, "and the gods won."**

**Some snickers from the group.**

**Behind me, Nancy Bobofit mumbled to a friend, "Like we're going to use this in real life. Like it's going to say on our job applications, 'Please explain why Kronos ate his kids.''**

**"And why, Mr. Jackson," Mr. Brunner said, "to paraphrase Miss Bobofit's excellent question, does this matter in real life?"**

**"Busted," Grover muttered.**

**"Shut up," Nancy hissed, her face even brighter red than her hair.**

**At least Nancy got packed, too. Mr. Brunner was the only one who ever caught her saying anything wrong. He had radar ears.**

"I was just very perceptive. I have the same hearing as any mortal." Chiron clarified modestly.

"Yeah. And i'm a unicorn." Grover muttered.

"You're a satyr though." Katie pointed out.

**I thought about his question, and shrugged. "I don't know, sir."**

**"I see." Mr. Brunner looked disappointed. "Well, half credit, Mr. Jackson. Zeus did indeed feed Kronos a mixture of mustard and wine, which made him disgorge his other five children, who, of course, being immortal gods, had been living and growing up completely undigested in the Titan's stomach. The gods defeated their father, sliced him to pieces with his own scythe, and scattered his remains in Tartarus, the darkest part of the Underworld. On that happy note, it's time for lunch. Mrs. Dodds, would you lead us back outside?"**

"_Happy note? _We just got done talking about Zeus and barfing up children. Let's eat! Beautifully wonderful." Leo joked. He got a few blank stares.

"Leo, you are hysterical." Jason insisted, trying to focus on the book.

**The class drifted off, the girls holding their stomachs, the guys pushing each other around and acting like doofuses. ****Grover and I were about to follow when Mr. Brunner said, "Mr. Jackson." **

**I knew that was coming. ****I told Grover to keep going. ****Then I turned toward Mr. Brunner. "Sir?" Mr. Brunner had this look that wouldn't let you go— intense brown eyes that could've been a thousand years old and had seen everything.**

**"You must learn the answer to my question," Mr. Brunner told me.**

**"About the Titans?"**

**"About real life. And how your studies apply to it."**

**"Oh."**

**"What you learn from me," he said, "is vitally important. I expect you to treat it as such. I will accept only the best from you, Percy Jackson."**

"Did you ever answer his question?" Travis asked, poking Percy in the side.

Thalia grinned. "Something tells me no."

Percy shrugged. "Hey I got a busy life, saving the world countless times and such. I don't always finish my homework."

"As if he ever started it in the first place." Annabeth smirked, hugging onto his arm.

"I can actually vouch for that, since we went to scool together." Rachel confirmed, grinning.

Percy rolled his eyes. "You guys are supportive."

"And people say you're not a comedian!" Frank laughed, pattin him on the back.

"Better not be stealing my line of work, Jackson." Leo warned, surprisingly serious.

**I wanted to get angry, this guy pushed me so hard.**

**I mean, sure, it was kind of cool on tournament days, when he dressed up in a suit of Roman armor and shouted: "What ho!'" and challenged us, sword-point against chalk, to run to the board and name every Greek and Roman person who had ever ****_lived, _****and their mother, and what god they worshipped.**

"That sword was actually Riptide." Percy slipped his ballpoint pen out of his pocket. He turned it in his hand a few times before returning it to his back pocket.

**But Mr. Brunner expected me to be as good as everybody else ****despite the fact that I have dyslexia and attention deficit disorder and I had never made above a C— in my life**.

**No—he didn't expect me to be ****_as good; _****he expected me to be ****_better. _****And I just couldn't learn all those names and facts, much less spell them correctly. ****I mumbled something about trying harder, while Mr. Brunner took one long sad look at the stele, like he'd been at this girl's funeral. ****He told me to go outside and eat my lunch.**

**The class gathered on the front steps of the museum, where we could watch the foot traffic along Fifth Avenue.**

**Overhead, a huge storm was brewing, with clouds blacker than I'd ever seen over the city. I figured maybe it was global warming or something, because the weather all across New York state had been weird since Christmas. We'd had massive snow storms, flooding, wildfires from lightning strikes. I wouldn't have been surprised if this was a hurricane blowing in.**

**Nobody else seemed to notice.**

"Typical mo-"

"If you say something about mortals, i will skin you alive." Rachel threatened.

Chris stopped talking. Clarisse nodded, acknowledging Rachel's furosity.

**Some of the guys were pelting pigeons with Lunchables crackers. Nancy Bobofit was trying to pickpocket something from a lady's purse, and, of course, Mrs. Dodds wasn't seeing a thing.**

**"Grover and I sat on the edge of the fountain, away from the others. We thought that maybe if we did that, everybody wouldn't know we were from ****_that _****school—the school for loser freaks who couldn't make it elsewhere.**

**"Detention?" Grover asked.**

**"Nah," I said. "Not from Brunner. I just wish he'd lay off me sometimes. I mean—I'm not a genius."**

**Grover didn't say anything for a while. Then, when I thought he was going to give me some deep philosophical comment to make me feel better, he said, "Can I have your apple?" I didn't have much of an appetite, so I let him take it**.

"You are a philosophical genius." Carmen said quietly. Everyone turned to look at her because she had been so quiet, it was easy to forget she was there.

Grover bleated sheepishly. "I was hungry, alright?"

"Its alright man. I obviously didn't want that apple." Percy promised, patting his friend's shoulder.

**I watched the stream of cabs going down Fifth Avenue, and thought about my mom's apartment, only a little ways uptown from where we sat. I hadn't seen her since Christmas. I wanted so bad to jump in a taxi and head home. She'd hug me and be glad to see me, but she'd be disappointed, too. She'd send me right back to Yancy, remind me that I had to try harder, even if this was my sixth school in six years and I was probably going to be kicked out again. I wouldn't be able to stand that sad look she'd give me.**

**Mr. Brunner parked his wheelchair at the base of the handicapped ramp. He ate celery while he read a paperback novel. A red umbrella stuck up from the back of his chair, making it look like a motorized cafe table. **

"What novel Chiron?" A son of Athena asked.

"I believe it was called _Fablehaven._" Chiron answered.

"I'll have to check into that." a second daughter of Athena said.

**I was about to unwrap my sandwich when Nancy Bobofit appeared in front of me with her ugly friends—I guess she'd gotten tired of stealing from the tourists—and dumped her half-eaten lunch in Grover's lap.**

"I told ya!" Rachel announced. "Little thief!"

"We never doubted you, Rach." Nico assured her, although he could honestly care less. The book was good so far, but he wasn't gonna be in it for a while.

**"Oops." She grinned at me with her crooked teeth. Her freckles were orange, as if somebody had spray-painted her face with liquid Cheetos.**

**I tried to stay cool. The school counselor had told me a million times, "Count to ten, get control of your temper."**

**But I was so mad my mind went blank.**

**A wave roared in my ears.**

**I don't remember touching her, but the next thing I knew, Nancy was sitting on her butt in the fountain, screaming, "Percy pushed me!"**

**Mrs. Dodds materialized next to us.**

**Some of the kids were whispering: "Did you see—"**

**"—the water—"**

**"—like it grabbed her—"**

**I didn't know what they were talking about. All I knew was that I was in trouble again. As soon as Mrs. Dodds was sure poor little Nancy was okay, promising to get her a new shirt at the museum gift shop, etc., etc., Mrs. Dodds turned on me. There was a triumphant fire in her eyes, as if I'd done something she'd been waiting for all semester. "Now, honey—"**

"That would be creepy." Hazel admitted.

"You don't even know the half of it." Percy responded.

**"I know," I grumbled. "A month erasing workbooks." That wasn't the right thing to say.**

**"Come with me," Mrs. Dodds said.**

**"Wait!" Grover yelped. "It was me. ****_I _****pushed her." I stared at him, stunned. ****I couldn't believe he was trying to cover for me. Mrs. Dodds scared Grover to death. ****She glared at him so hard his whiskery chin trembled.**

"Heroic satyr!" Frank quipped.

Grover blushed. "I'm his protector. Althoug i don't see what good it did him."

"Grover, you're the best friend a guy could have." Percy said.

"What about me?" Leo exclaimed.

"Oy."

**"I don't think so, Mr. Underwood," she said.**

**"But—"**

**"You—****_will_****—stay—here."**

**Grover looked at me desperately.**

**"It's okay, man," I told him. "Thanks for trying."**

**"Honey," Mrs. Dodds barked at me. "****_Now_****." Nancy Bobofit smirked.**

**I gave her my deluxe I'll-kill-you-later stare.**

"Those are never good." Conner mumbled.

"I've been on the other end of those before." Chris agreed.

"Stop being pansies." Clarisse scowled.

**Then I turned to face Mrs. Dodds, but she wasn't there. She was standing at the museum entrance, way at the top of the steps, gesturing impatiently at me to come on.**

**How'd she get there so fast?**

**I have moments like that a lot, when my brain falls asleep or something, and the next thing I know I've missed something, as if a puzzle piece fell out of the universe and left me staring at the blank place behind it. The school counselor told me this was part of the ADHD, my brain misinterpreting things.**

**I wasn't so sure.**

**I went after Mrs. Dodds.**

**Halfway up the steps, I glanced back at Grover. He was looking pale, cutting his eyes between me and Mr. Brunner, like he wanted Mr. Brunner to notice what was going on, but Mr. Brunner was absorbed in his novel."**

**I looked back up. Mrs. Dodds had disappeared again. She was now inside the building, at the end of the entrance hall.**

**Okay, I thought. She's going to make me buy a new shirt for Nancy at the gift shop. But apparently that wasn't the plan.**

**I followed her deeper into the museum. When I finally caught up to her, we were back in the Greek and Roman section.**

**Except for us, the gallery was empty.**

"No witnesses? Stranger danger!" An Aphrodite girl exclaimed.

**Mrs. Dodds stood with her arms crossed in front of a big marble frieze of the Greek gods. She was making this weird noise in her throat, like growling.**

"Mrs Dodds? More like candidate for creepiest petafiler." Phoenix muttered.

**Even without the noise, I would've been nervous. It's weird being alone with a teacher, especially Mrs. Dodds. Something about the way she looked at the frieze, as if she wanted to pulverize it...**.

**"You've been giving us problems, honey," she said.**

**I did the safe thing. I said, "Yes, ma'am."**

"Now that I look back on it, that answer didn't make much sense." Realization dawned on Percy.

"Well the fact that you said something unintelligible doesn't really surprise us, Seaweed Brain." Annabeth responded.

"We can't all be as witty as you Wise Girl."

**She tugged on the cuffs of her leather jacket. "Did you really think you would get away with it?"**

**The look in her eyes was beyond mad. It was evil.**

**She's a teacher, I thought nervously. It's not she's going to hurt me.**

**"I said, "I'll—I'll try harder, ma'am."**

**Thunder shook the building.**

**"We are not fools, Percy Jackson," Mrs. Dodds said. "It was only a matter of time before we found you out. Confess, and you will suffer less pain."**

**I didn't know what she was talking about.**

**All I could think of was that the teachers must've found the illegal stash of candy I'd been selling out of my dorm room. Or maybe they'd realized I got my essay on ****_Tom Sawyer _****from the Internet without ever reading the book and now they were going to take away my grade. Or worse, they were going to make me read the book.**

"Still haven't gotten around to reading that."

**"Well?" she demanded.**

**"Ma'am, I don't..."**

**"Your time is up," she hissed.**

**Then the weirdest thing happened. Her eyes began to glow like barbecue coals. Her fingers stretched, turning into talons. Her jacket melted into large, leathery wings. She wasn't human. She was a shriveled hag with bat wings and claws and a mouth full of yellow fangs, and she was about to slice me to ribbons.**

"Fury number one." Nico said. His tone suggested that he knew it was a Fury the entire time.

**Then things got even stranger.**

**Mr. Brunner, who'd been out in front of the museum a minute before, wheeled his chair into the doorway of the gallery, holding a pen in his hand.**

"Right in the nick of time, like every great hero novel." Faith grinned. Ryan rolled his eyes at her enthusiasm.

**"What ho, Percy!" he shouted, and tossed the pen through the air. Mrs. Dodds lunged at me.**

**With a yelp, I dodged and felt talons slash the air next to my ear. I snatched the ballpoint pen out of the air, but when it hit my hand, it wasn't a pen anymore. It was a sword—Mr. Brunner's bronze sword, which he always used on tournament day.**

**Mrs. Dodds spun toward me with a murderous look in her eyes. ****My knees were jelly. My hands were shaking so bad I almost dropped the sword. She snarled, "Die, honey!" ****And she flew straight at me.**

**Absolute terror ran through my body. I did the only thing that came naturally: I swung the sword.**

"No. He smashed a pinata." Travis tried making a joke. Katie laughed.

**The metal blade hit her shoulder and passed clean through her body as if she were made of water. ****_Hisss!_**

**Mrs. Dodds was a sand castle in a power fan. She exploded into yellow powder, vaporized on the spot, leaving nothing but the smell of sulfur and a dying screech and a chill of evil in the air, as if those two glowing red eyes were still watching me.**

**I was alone. ****There was a ballpoint pen in my hand.**

**Mr. Brunner wasn't there. Nobody was there but me. ****My hands were still trembling. My lunch must've been contaminated with magic mushrooms or something.**

**Had I imagined the whole thing?**

"Only you would have imagined something that crazy Seaweed Brain." Annabeth teased. She brushed a wisp of blond hair out of her eyes and tucked it behind her ear.

"Hey! Thats alot to process at age 12!" Percy protested, green eyes sparkling.

**I went back outside. ****It had started to rain.**

**Grover was sitting by the fountain, a museum map tented over his head. Nancy Bobofit was still standing there, soaked from her swim in the fountain, grumbling to her ugly friends. When she saw me, she said, "I hope Mrs. Kerr whipped your butt."**

** "What?"**

**"Our ****_teacher. _****Duh!"**

**I blinked. We had no teacher named Mrs. Kerr. I asked Nancy what she was talking about. She just rolled her eyes and turned away.**

**I asked Grover where Mrs. Dodds was.**

**He said, "Who?"****But he paused first, and he wouldn't look at me, so I thought he was messing with me.**

**"Not funny, man," I told him. "This is serious."**

**Thunder boomed overhead.**

Everyone turned to Thalia and Jason. Thalia raised her hands defiantly. "Hey. I was a fricken pine tree."

Jason shrugged. "I was probably in the Fifth Cohort in New Rome. 'Sides, son of Jupiter."

"Patato, pototo." Conner said. "Same difference." Okay. Maybe not the smartest thing to have said.

**I saw Mr. Brunner sitting under his red umbrella, reading his book, as if he'd never moved. I went over to him. ****He looked up, a little distracted. "Ah, that would be my pen. Please bring your own writing utensil in the future, Mr. Jackson."**

**I handed Mr. Brunner his pen. I hadn't even realized I was still holding it. ****"Sir," I said, "where's Mrs. Dodds?"**

**He stared at me blankly. "Who?"**

**"The other chaperone. Mrs. Dodds. The pre-algebra teacher." **

**He frowned and sat forward, looking mildly concerned. "Percy, there is no Mrs. Dodds on this trip. As far as I know, there has never been a Mrs. Dodds at Yancy Academy. Are you feeling all right?"**

"Oh snap! Percy belongs in the loony hospital!" Nico joked, stretching back in his chair.

Percy sniffed smugly. "I'll get you back for that di Angelo."

Nico feigned fright. "Annabeth! Thalia! Protect me!"

"You're such a drama king." Hazel scolded.

"Actually its Ghost King if you wanted to get into partuculars."

"Im sure you can take care of yourself anyhow, Nico, being that you can summon undead armies and stuff." Annabeth reminded him. Pfft. As if he could forget. He just announced that he was the Ghost King, as if everyone had forgotten.

Nico shrugged. "Frank can too."

"Frank can too, what?" Frank raised an eyebrow skeptically.

"Nancy Bobofit? Oh Hades..." Rachel muttered.

"Rachel, get over it." Thalia said.

Chiron's tail flicked and his front hooves clomped restlessly. "Who would care to read next?"

Piper stood up. "Sure. I'll read next."

* * *

**Yay! Chapter one is done! Actually, this was a freaking blast to write. Sure, it might take awhile, but this is legitimately FUN to write! Yaya! Updates will be coming smooth for awhile, but school always comes to bite me in the ass when i get on a roll. Just a heads up. But...oh my hades, this was fun!**


	3. Grover Sucks at Lying

**Chapter Two: Grover Sucks at Lying**

Piper got up from her spot between Thalia and Jason and made her way to where Chiron was standing. She accepted the book, and Chiron clomped off to the side. Piper held the book up to her nose, then stopped. Lowering it down, she finally realized how many people were watching her while she read. A blush spread across her cheeks. Her eyes flickered over to her friends in the stands. Jason smiled and winked. Leo gave a thumbs up. Percy gave her a salute and Annabeth smiled encouragingly.

Stopping the page with her left hand, she placed her right hand on her hip. "Can i get a chair at least? I really don't wanna stand the whole time."

Snickers bounced around the arena, mainly from the Stolls, and Piper instantly regretted saying that. Non-the less, a girl from Hecate's cabin brought her a beach chair to sit on. "Thanks." Piper muttered, taking a seat on the ocean-weathered beach chair. She glanced up a final time, and Jason was giving her an encouraging look.

**Chapter Two: THREE OLD LADIES KNIT THE SOCKS OF DEATH**

"Fates. They were really creepy." Percy muttered.

"I still have nightmares about them." Grover muttered back.

**I was used to the occasional weird experience, but usually they were over quickly. This twenty four/seven hallucination was more than I could handle. For the rest of the school year, the entire campus seemed to be playing some kind of trick on me.**

**The students acted as if they were completely and totally convinced that Mrs. Kerr—a perky blond woman whom I'd never seen in my life until she got on our bus at the end of the field trip—had been our pre-algebra teacher since Christmas.**

"Only one thing." Phoebe whispered to Carmen. "Its the Mist. Strong stuff."

**Every so often I would spring a Mrs. Dodds reference on somebody, just to see if I could trip them up, but they would stare at me like I was psycho. ****It got so I almost believed them—Mrs. Dodds had never existed. ****Almost. ****But Grover couldn't fool me. ****When I mentioned the name Dodds to him, he would hesitate, then claim she didn't exist. But I knew he was lying.**

"Grover, please tell me that when you went undercover to other schools you eventually got better at lying," Conner pleaded, shaking Grover on the shoulder.

Grover bleated, embarressed.

"Let me tell ya from personal experience," Nico said, "his lying didn't get better. Me and Bianca often wondered about that."

**Something was going on. Something ****_had _****happened at the museum.**

**I didn't have much time to think about it during the days, but at night, visions of Mrs. Dodds with talons and leathery wings would wake me up in a cold sweat. ****The freak weather continued, which didn't help my mood. One night, a thunderstorm blew out the windows in my dorm room. ****A few days later, the biggest tornado ever spotted in the Hudson Valley touched down only fifty miles from Yancy Academy.**

"I totally forgot about all those storms," Annabeth noted, ruffling her blonde hair.

"Dad must have been really pissed," Jason muttered.

"Watch your language little brother," Thalia warned. She jabbed her brother in the side.

**One of the current events we studied in social studies class was the unusual number of small planes that had gone down in sudden squalls in the Atlantic that year. I**** started feeling cranky and irritable most of the time. My grades slipped from Ds to Fs. ****I got into more fights with Nancy Bobofit and her friends.**

"It's really hard not to get into fights with her," Rachel lamented in a harsh tone.

**I was sent out into the hallway in almost every class. ****Finally, when our English teacher, Mr. Nicoll, asked me for the millionth time why I was too lazy to study for spelling tests, I snapped. I called him an old sot. I wasn't even sure what it meant, but it sounded good. **

"Good one Percy!" Travis praised, clapping his knee.

Katie rolled her eyes. "Travis, can't you act a little mature?"

Travis shot her a grin. "Not in a million-gazillion years baby."

**The headmaster sent my mom a letter the following week, making it official: I would not be invited back next year to Yancy Academy. ****Fine, I told myself. Just fine. I**** was homesick.**

**I wanted to be with my mom in our little apartment on the Upper East Side, even if I had to go to public school and put up with my obnoxious stepfather and his stupid poker parties. And yet... there were things I'd miss at Yancy. The view of the woods out my dorm window, the Hudson River in the distance, the smell of pine trees. I'd miss Grover, who'd been a good friend, even if he was a little strange.**

"I'm so touched by your kind thoughts." Grover addressed Percy sarcastically.

"Hey. I said i would miss you. That should be enough." Percy kidded back. Grover pouted. Percy gave him a light bro-punch on the shoulder.

**I worried how he'd survive next year without me. ****I'd miss Latin class, too—Mr. Brunner's crazy tournament days and his faith that I could do well.**

"My name!" Faith shouted pridefully, like her name was an important part of the book.

"Faith! It was a lower case 'f.' Not the same." Leo called back. He was to the right and down several steps from her.

"Shut up Leo!"

"Ryan! Keep an eye on your girlfriend! She's hitting on me!"

"Valdez, you're _sooo_ hopeless!"

"Team Leo forever, Faith!"

"Will you two knock it off?" Ryan scolded, taking a firm grip on Faith's hand.

"Thank you, Ryan!" Annabeth thanked her brother.

**As exam week got closer, Latin was the only test I studied for.**

**I hadn't forgotten what Mr. Brunner had told me about this subject being life-and-death for me. I wasn't sure why, but I'd started to believe him.**

"I wonder if it's an instinctive thing..." Hazel wondered to herself.

**The evening before my final, I got so frustrated I threw the ****_Cambridge Guide to Greek Mythology_**** across my dorm room. ****Words had started swimming off the page, circling my head, the letters doing one-eighties as if they were riding skateboards. There was no way I was going to remember the difference between Chiron and Charon**** or Polydictes and Polydeuces. And conjugating those Latin verbs? Forget it.**

Chiron stared disapprovingly at Percy. "I sure hope you know the difference between Charon and I after so many years Mr Jackson."

Percy gave a goofy grin. "Of course i do, Charon. I mean Chiron."

Annabeth swatted her boyfriend on the back of the head while Chiron chuckled to himself.

**I paced the room, feeling like ants were crawling around inside my shirt. I remembered Mr. Brunner's serious expression, his thousand-year-old eyes. ****_I will accept only the best from you, Percy Jackson. _****I took a deep breath. I picked up the mythology book. ****I'd never asked a teacher for help before. **

"I wouldn't be caught dead getting help from a teacher." Conner announced loudly.

"Maybe thats why you have the IQ of a guinea pig!" A boy from the Ares cabing retorted.

**Maybe if I talked to Mr. Brunner, he could give me some pointers. At least I could apologize for the big fat F I was about to score on his exam.**** I didn't want to leave Yancy Academy with him thinking I hadn't tried.**

"At least he's honest." Piper muttered to herself, interrupting her own reading.

**I walked downstairs to the faculty offices. Most of them were dark and empty, but Mr. Brunner's door was ajar, light from his window stretching across the hallway floor. I was three steps from the door handle when I heard voices inside the office. Mr. Brunner asked a question. A voice that was definitely Grover's said ****_"... _****worried about Percy, sir. I froze.**

The water in the lake began churning. Percy got up and drew riptide. Annabeth leapt to her feet, whipping her dagger from her belt. Thalia jumped up and tapped her bracelt, Aegis springing from her wrist. Before they could reach the lake or anyone else could spring to action, Tyson emerged from the water. He was dressed in ripped up blue jeans, an old camp t-shirt, and his brown eye looked excited.

"Tyson!" Percy exclaimed, happy to see his brother.

Tyson skipped up to Percy and pulled him into a hug. "Brother! What is going on? Daddy said that I should visit you cause you were doing something fun."

"Hi Tyson." Annabeth smiled, putting away her dagger.

Tyson smiled really big. "Annabeth! Oh how I have missed you!" He gave Annabeth a big hug as well. He stopped, finally realizing the concentrated amount of campers in the arena watching them. Thalia had rejoined her brother. "Um...Percy? Annabeth? What is going on here? Did something sad happen?"

Percy shook his head, clapping his brother on the back. "Nah. For once, nothing bad happened."

"Thalia; you remember Thalia right Tyson?" Annabeth started. Tyson nodded, fully amazed by everyone in the stadium. "She found books about Percy and all our friends, so we are reading them together."

Tyson clapped gleefully. "Oh yes! Is Ella here still? She would like this alot! Ella likes books."

Percy bit his lower lip. "Um...no. She went back to Oregon to visit her sisters. She'll be back in a few days though."

Tyson's expression dimmed, but only for a second. "Well thats okay. Ella will come soon. We should go listen to the book."

"Good idea, big guy." Annabeth, Percy, and Tyson all reclaimed their spots, with the demigod on Grover's right moving over one to make room for Tyson.

"You guys ready?" Piper asked, a bit irritated that she had to stop her reading.

"Carry on Piper." Percy confirmed.

**I'm not usually an eavesdropper ****but I dare you to try not listening if you hear your best friend talking about you to an adult.**

**I inched closer.**

**"... alone this summer," Grover was saying. "I mean, a Kindly One in the ****_school_****! Now that we know for sure, and ****_they _****know too—"**

**"We would only make matters worse by rushing him," Mr. Brunner said. "We need the boy to mature more."**

**"But he may not have time. The summer solstice deadline— ****_"_**

**"Will have to be resolved without him, Grover. Let him enjoy his ignorance while he still can."**

**"Sir, he ****_saw _her... ."**

"And i bet you wish you could un-see her." Jason asserted.

"Jason, you don't know how right you are." Percy answered.

**"His imagination," Mr. Brunner insisted. "The Mist over the students and staff will be enough to convince him of that."**

**"Sir, I ... I can't fail in my duties again." Grover's voice was choked with emotion. "You know what that would mean."**

"You didn't fail a first time." Thalia directed toward Grover, who smiled back gratefully.

**"You haven't failed, Grover," Mr. Brunner said kindly. "I should have seen her for what she was. Now let's just worry about keeping Percy alive until next fall—"**

**The mythology book dropped out of my hand and hit the floor with a thud.**

**Mr. Brunner went silent. ****My heart hammering, I picked up the book and backed down the hall. ****A shadow slid across the lighted glass of Brunner's office door, the shadow of something much taller than my wheelchair-bound teacher, holding something that looked suspiciously like an archer's bow.**

"Chiron? Why were you in your centaur form with a bow?" Rachel asked.

"Chiron!" Annabeth scolded in a playful tone. "You should know better than that."

Chiron shrugged. "You try staying couped up in a magical box for 10 months at a time."

"Touche." Leo awarded, pretending to stroke an imaginary beard that he obviously did not have.

**I opened the nearest door and slipped inside.**

**A few seconds later I heard a slow ****_clop-clop-clop, _****like muffled wood blocks, then a sound like an animal snuffling right outside my door. A large, dark shape paused in front of the glass, then moved on.**

**A bead of sweat trickled down my neck.**

**Somewhere in the hallway, Mr. Brunner spoke. "Nothing," he murmured. "My nerves haven't been right since the winter solstice**

**"Mine neither," Grover said. "But I could have sworn ..."**

**"Go back to the dorm," Mr. Brunner told him. "You've got a long day of exams tomorrow."**

**"Don't remind me."**

**The lights went out in Mr. Brunner's office.**

**I waited in the dark for what seemed like forever.**

**Finally, I slipped out into the hallway and made my way back up to the dorm. Grover was lying on his bed, studying his Latin exam notes like he'd been there all night.**

"A likable story!" Frank squinted one eye shut, trying to sound like a detective.

"Zahng! We know your dreams of being a detective were crushed. Don't force your dreams on the rest of us!" Leo commented, earning a few laughs.

"I didn't wanna be a detective..." Frank protested quietly, although it was secretly true.

**"Hey," he said, bleary-eyed. "You going to be ready for this test?" I didn't answer. ****You look awful." He frowned. "Is everything okay?"**

**"Just... tired."**

"Sorry if i don't look my best before i go to bed. Maybe i should apply a mud mask before i go to sleep from now on." suggested Percy sarcastically.

"I could arrange that if you're serious." Lacy from Aphrodite offered.

"Thats okay Lacy. Won't be necassary." Annabeth answered for him. Percy gave her a thankful look and squeezed her hand.

"Mudmask?" Tyson repeated puzzled.

**I turned so he couldn't read my expression, and started getting ready for bed. I didn't understand what I'd heard downstairs. I wanted to believe I'd imagined the whole thing. ****But one thing was clear: Grover and Mr. Brunner were talking about me behind my back. They thought I was in some kind of danger.**

**The next afternoon, as I was leaving the three-hour Latin exam ****my eyes swimming with all the Greek and Roman names I'd misspelled, ****Mr. Brunner called me back inside. For a moment, I was worried he'd found out about my eavesdropping the night before, but that didn't seem to be the problem.**

Chiron rubbed his face in an exasperated way. He knew what was coming, and even though he meant well, he was ashamed at what he had said to Percy that day.

**"Percy," he said. "Don't be discouraged about leaving Yancy. It's ... it's for the best.****His tone was kind, but the words still embarrassed me. Even though he was speaking quietly, the other kids finishing the test could hear. Nancy Bobofit smirked at me and made sarcastic little kissing motions with her lips.**

"I really wanna beat that girl up..." Clarisse growled.

Everyone kind of tensed at the visciousness in her voice, especially since she had been quiet for half the chapter.

**"I mumbled, "Okay, sir."**

**"I mean ..." Mr. Brunner wheeled his chair back and forth, like he wasn't sure what to say.**

**"This isn't the right place for you. It was only a matter of time." My eyes stung. ****Here was my favorite teacher, in front of the class, telling me I couldn't handle it. After saying he believed in me all year, now he was telling me I was destined to get kicked out.**

**"Right," I said, trembling.**

**"No, no," Mr. Brunner said. "Oh, confound it all. What I'm trying to say ... you're not normal, Percy. That's nothing to be—"**

**"Thanks," I blurted. "Thanks a lot, sir, for reminding me."**

**"Percy—"**

**But I was already gone.**

"Oh Percy." Annabeth leaned over and gave Percy a kiss on the cheek. Several squeals escaped the Aphrodite cabin.

**On the last day of the term, I shoved my clothes into my suitcase.**

**The other guys were joking around, talking about their vacation plans. One of them was going on a hiking trip to Switzerland. Another was cruising the Caribbean for a month. They were juvenile delinquents, like me ****but they were ****_rich _****juvenile delinquents. Their daddies were executives, or ambassadors, or celebrities.**

**I was a nobody, from a family of nobodies.**

"Nobody! That's Polyphemus's old enemy, right?" Tyson asked, frowning. He didn't like how that snotty old sheep eater was giving Cyclops a bad name.

"That is correct," Chiron answered, hoping to draw some attention away from his poor word choice nearly 5 years ago.

Tyson's frown deepened. "But i thought Annabeth was Nobody."

Annabeth laughed. "Tyson! There was a Nobody before I was Nobody."

"Oh."

**They asked me what I'd be doing this summer and I told them I was going back to the city. What I didn't tell them was that I'd have to get a summer job walking dogs or selling magazine subscriptions, and spend my free time worrying about where I'd go to school in the fall.**

**"Oh," one of the guys said. "That's cool."**

**They went back to their conversation as if I'd never existed. ****The only person I dreaded saying good-bye to was Grover ****but as it turned out, I didn't have to. He'd booked a ticket to Manhattan on the same Greyhound as I had, so there we were, together again, heading into the city.**

"Amber alert." Frank whispered to Nico.

Nico gave Frank an awkward look before moving one seat to the right, farther away from the shapeshifter.

Frank looked surprised. "What I say?"

**During the whole bus ride, Grover kept glancing nervously down the aisle, watching the other passengers. ****It occurred to me that he'd always acted nervous and fidgety when we left Yancy, as if he expected something bad to happen. ****Before, I'd always assumed he was worried about getting teased.**

"I could actually handle myself quite alright, thank you very much." Grover pointed out, as if daring anyone to say otherwise.

Chris could have said something, but he didn't want everyone at camp turning on him.

**But there was nobody to tease him on the Greyhound. ****Finally I couldn't stand it anymore. ****I said, "Looking for Kindly Ones?"**

**Grover nearly jumped out of his seat. "Wha—what do you mean?" I confessed about eavesdropping on him and Mr. Brunner the night before the exam. ****Grover's eye twitched. "How much ****_did _****you hear?"**

**"Oh ... not much. What's the summer solstice dead-line?"**

**"He winced. "Look, Percy ... I was just worried for you, see? I mean, hallucinating about demon math teachers ..."**

**"Grover—"**

**"And I was telling Mr. Brunner that maybe you were overstressed or something, because there was no such person as Mrs. Dodds, and ..."**

**"Grover, you're a really, really bad liar."**

"Really bad liar." Nico agreed.

"You should've heard some of the lies Grover told me." Thalia smirked.

"Like what?" Carmen asked.

"Ask Grover." Thalia answered.

Grover blushed.

**His ears turned pink.**

**From his shirt pocket, he fished out a grubby business card. "Just take this, okay? In case you need me this summer. **

**The card was in fancy script, which was murder on my dyslexic eyes ****but I finally made out something like:**

**_Grover Underwood_**

**_Keeper_**

**_Half-Blood Hill_**

**_Long Island, New York_**

**_(800) 009-0009_**

**"What's Half—"**

**"Don't say it aloud!" he yelped. "That's my, um ... summer address." My heart sank. Grover had a summer home. I'd never considered that his family might be as rich as the others at Yancy.**

"Oh yeah. This dump is definantly a five star summer home." A kid from Ares commented.

"Mr Johnson, thank you ever so much for volunteering to clean the Pegasus stables this afternoon." Chiron said calmly. The Ares camper sank down into his seat, trying to disappear.

**"Okay," I said glumly. "So, like, if I want to come visit your mansion." **

**He nodded. "Or ... or if you need me."**

**"Why would I need you?"**

"Smooth Perce." Katie murmered.

**It came out harsher than I meant it to.**

**Grover blushed right down to his Adam's apple. "Look, Percy, the truth is, I—I kind of have to protect you."**

**I stared at him.**

**All year long, I'd gotten in fights, keeping bullies away from him. I'd lost sleep worrying that he'd get beaten up next year without me. And here he was acting like he was the one who defended ****_me._**

**"Grover," I said, "what exactly are you protecting me from?"**

**There was a huge grinding noise under our feet. Black smoke poured from the dashboard and the whole bus filled with a smell like rotten eggs. The driver cursed and limped the Greyhound over to the side of the highway.**

**After a few minutes clanking around in the engine compartment, the driver announced that we'd all have to get off. Grover and I filed outside with everybody else. We were on a stretch of country road—no place you'd notice if you didn't break down there. On our side of the highway was nothing but maple trees and litter from passing cars. On the other side, across four lanes of asphalt shimmering with afternoon heat, was an old-fashioned fruit stand.**

**The stuff on sale looked really good: heaping boxes of bloodred cherries and apples, walnuts and apricots, jugs of cider in a claw-foot tub full of ice ****_. _****There were no customers, just three old ladies ****sitting in rocking chairs in the shade of a maple tree, knitting the biggest pair of socks I'd ever seen.**

"Socks of death!" Jason guessed.

**I mean these socks were the size of sweaters, but they were clearly socks. The lady on the right knitted one of them. The lady on the left knitted the other. The lady in the middle held an enormous basket of electric-blue yarn.**

**All three women looked ancient, with pale faces wrinkled like fruit leather, silver hair tied back in white bandannas, bony arms sticking out of bleached cotton dresses. The weirdest thing was, they seemed to be looking right at me. ****I looked over at Grover to say something about this and saw that the blood had drained from his face. His nose was twitching.**

**"Grover?" I said. "Hey, man—"**

**"Tell me they're not looking at you. They are, aren't they?"**

**"Yeah. Weird, huh? You think those socks would fit me?"**

The arena erupted with heavy laughter. Piper tried calming down, but she was laughing just as hard as everyone else. Finally, with the help of Chiron, they got the camp to shut up.

**"Not funny, Percy. Not funny at all."**

**The old lady in the middle took out a huge pair of scissors****—gold and silver, long-bladed, like shears." ****I heard Grover catch his breath.**

**"We're getting on the bus," he told me. "Come on."**

**"What?" I said. "It's a thousand degrees in there."**

**"Come on!'" He pried open the door and climbed inside, but I stayed back. Across the road, the old ladies were still watching me. The middle one cut the yarn ****and I swear I could hear that ****_snip _****across four lanes of traffic.**

**Her two friends balled up the electric-blue socks, leaving me wondering who they could possibly be for—Sasquatch or Godzilla. At the rear of the bus, the driver wrenched a big chunk of smoking metal out of the engine compartment. The bus shuddered, and the engine roared back to life.**

**The passengers cheered.**

**"Darn right!" yelled the driver. He slapped the bus with his hat. "Everybody back on board!" Once we got going, I started feeling feverish, as if I'd caught the flu. Grover didn't look much better. He was shivering and his teeth were chattering.**

**"Grover?"**

**"Yeah?"**

**"What are you not telling me?"**

**He dabbed his forehead with his shirt sleeve. "Percy, what did you see back at the fruit stand?"**

**"You mean the old ladies? What is it about them, man? They're not like ... Mrs. Dodds, are they?"**

"Now that would have been a nightmare." Jason nodded, becoming very entranced in the book.

**His expression was hard to read, but I got the feeling that the fruit-stand ladies were something much, much worse than Mrs. Dodds. He said, "Just tell me what you saw."**

**"The middle one took out her scissors, and she cut the yarn." He closed his eyes and made a gesture with his fingers that might've been crossing himself, but it wasn't. It was something else, something almost—older." **"He notices way to much,' Rachel said quietly.

**He said, "You saw her snip the cord."**

**"Yeah. So?" But even as I said it, I knew it was a big deal. **

"Whats so scary about it? Why was Grover so worried?" Tyson asked, chewing on one of his corn chip shaped finger nail.

"We'll explain it to you one day, big guy." Percy promised.

Tyson nodded, kind of disappointed that he didn't understand.

**"This is not happening," Grover mumbled. He started chewing at his thumb. "I don't want this to be like the last time."**

**"What last time?" **

**"Always sixth grade. They never get past sixth."**

**"Grover," I said, because he was really starting to scare me. "What are you talking about?"**

**"Let me walk you home from the bus station. Promise me." **

**This seemed like a strange request to me, but I promised he could. **

**"Is this like a superstition or something?" I asked. **"

**No answer.**

**Grover—that snipping of the yarn. Does that mean somebody is going to die?" He looked at me mournfully, like he was already picking the kind of flowers I'd like best on my coffin.**

"What a lovely friend." Rachel kidded. She dug into her bag, and pulled out a stick of gum and popped it into her mouth,

Piper got up from the beach chair, stretching her legs and arms. "That chair is incredably uncomfortable. Who want's to read next?" She held the book out, kind of waving it back and forth trying to bait a new reader.

"Yeah. I'll read next."

* * *

**Yeah! chapter two is done! yepp! like i said...SOOOOOOO MUCH FUN TO WRITE. Yaya! Tyson came to visit his brother, Annabeth relived her Nobody days, Frank wanted to be a detective, and Grover has always sucked at lying. Who should read next? IDK, you tell me...please review, follow, and favorite! They brighten my day!**


	4. Nico and Hazel Plan a Surprise

**Chapter 3: Nico and Hazel Plan a Surprise**

Jason pushed himself to his feet. "Sure Pipes. I'll go next." The cool morning air whistled through his shaggy blonde hair that was in need of a cut.

Piper leaned back and her back cracked, finally seeming to relieve some of the tension that had built up on that painful chair. Jason got closer, and Piper held the book out to him. "May I recommend not sitting on that beach chair."

Jason laughed, accepting the book with one hand and kissed the top of her head. He tried to ignore the whistles and sighs from Aphrodite's cabin, and by Piper's pink face, she was too. He wasn't sure why everyone was so obsessed over a kiss. "You're advice is greatly noted."

Piper started back toward her seat on the stone bleachers in between Thalia and Annabeth. She had to admit, she was ecstatic that her turn was over. The feeling of so many peoples' eyes boring into her back... She didn't want to read again...at least not for awhile.

Jason crossed one leg under the other and sat on a stump that was usually used for roasting marshmallows by the fire. But if the beach chair was as uncomfortable as Piper let on, then he didn't want to risk back problems.

He coughed, then began reading

**GROVER** **UNEXPECTEDLY LOSES HIS PANTS**

"Catchy title." A son of Apollo noted.

"Not much of an attention grabber. I think that it's a little weak." A daughter of Apollo remarked.

"It got my attention Riva! Shut up!" Faith barked at her annoying half sister. Riva turned around and fluffed her hair.

"Girls, please. No fighting so early in the morning." Chiron chastised softly.

Ryan rolled his eyes at the same time Piper did. Faith seemed feisty enough sometimes to be related to Hermes or Ares while Riva was so stuck up, she could be related to Aphrodite. Or worse—Drew's twin sister. Piper withheld a laugh.

**Confession time: ****I ditched Grover as soon as we got to the bus terminal.**

**I know, I know. It was rude**.

**But Grover was freaking me out, looking at me like I was a dead man, muttering "Why does this always happen?" and "Why does it always have to he sixth grade?"**

"I wasn't in sixth grade. I was in 4th grade. Are you saying I was incapable of surviving until sixth grade?" Nico said, almost sounding insulted.

"You're a child of the Big Three. That's different." An Iris girl, Hannah, interjected.

"Percy made it to sixth grade though." Annabeth pointed out.

"Thalia did too." Ryan added.

"Don't forget me!" Jason raised his hand like a kid and smiled at his sister Thalia.

"Jason, didn't Lupa find you when you were like...four or something?" Percy asked, green eyes lighting up. He hadn't heard the full story about Thalia, Jason, their mom, Lupa...asking about it was a decent way to get electrocuted.

"Yes he did." Thalia answered for her brother, noticing that he turned a bit pink.

Jason shrugged. "What's the moral of this story again?"

"Jason, shut up and keep reading." Piper called to her boyfriend. The sun started to get a little warmer, so she slipped off her turquoise hoody jacket allowing her dark hair and feather extensions to bounce around before she pulled it up into a ponytail

"Love you too."

"And my question goes unanswered..." Nico muttered into his palm. Hazel patted his arm and shrugged.

"Are Lupas like Fruit Loops? Percy showed me Fruit Loops and they are yummy." Tyson asked a little confused.

The audience laughed at the young Cyclops' ignorance.

**Whenever he got upset, Grover's bladder acted up ****so I wasn't surprised when, as soon as we got off the bus, he made me promise to wait for him ****then made a beeline for the restroom. Instead of waiting, I got my suitcase, slipped outside, and caught the first taxi uptown.**

"That's attractive." Frank commented. Hazel kicked him on the knee gently.

**"East One-hundred-and-fourth and First," I told the driver. A word about my mother, before you meet her.**

**Her name is Sally Jackson and she's the best person in the world, which just proves my theory that the best people have the rottenest luck. Her own parents died in a plane crash when she was five ****and she was raised by an uncle who didn't care much about her. ****She wanted to be a novelist, so she spent high school working to save enough money for a college with a good creative writing program. ****Then her uncle got cancer, and she had to quit school her senior year to take care of him.**

"Sally really is the nicest person ever." Annabeth whispered to herself. She hadn't intended for anyone to hear, but then Rachel answered.

"I know right. That's horrible that all of that happened to her."

Jason silently thanked Zeus that no one brought up the airplane crash being his fault.

**After he died, she was left with no money, no family, and no diploma. ****The only good break she ever got was meeting my dad. ****I don't have any memories of him, just this sort of warm glow, maybe the barest trace of his smile.**

"Turns out that glow was just my imagination." Percy murmured to Annabeth, although she already knew that.

**My mom doesn't like to talk about him because ****_it _****makes her sad**. **She has no pictures. See, they weren't married. She told me he was rich and important,**** and their relationship was a secret. Then one day, he set sail across the Atlantic on some important journey, and he never came back.**

"How romantically tragic!" Piper giggled.

Annabeth, along with everyone else stared at her like she was crazy.

"Piper, you alright?" Leo asked, leaning over to poke her cheek.

Piper shook her head and brushed her pants as if dirt was on her. "Crazy Aphrodite instincts. I hate 'em."

Travis nodded slowly. "Continue Jason."

**Lost at sea, my mom told me. Not dead. Lost at sea.**

**She worked odd jobs, took night classes to get her high school diploma, and raised me on her own. She never complained or got mad.**

"That's impressive. It's hard not to get infuriated with Percy." Clarisse grinned, ruffling up Percy's hair.

**Not even once. But I knew I wasn't an easy kid.**

**Finally, she married Gabe Ugliano, who was nice the first thirty seconds we knew him, ****then showed his true colors as a world-class jerk.**

"Dang. Those are the worst." Carmen commented, louder than before.

Percy, Annabeth, and Thalia turned around and gave her an encouraging smile. She as finally starting to open up. Feel like she belonged. Secretly, Percy wondered if Rachel and Carmen could be friends since they're mortal and all. Well...Carmen used to be mortal.

**When I was young, I nicknamed him Smelly Gabe.**

Percy blushed a bit as all of his friends started to laugh hysterically. "Hey! I was like four alright!"

"I was on my own with a wolf at four." Jason said, trying to be funny.

"Clam it, Grace!"

**I'm sorry, but it's the truth.**** The guy reeked like moldy garlic pizza wrapped in gym shorts.**

**Between the two of us, we made my mom's life pretty hard.**

**The way Smelly Gabe treated her, the way he and I got along ... well, when I came home is a good example. I ****walked into our little apartment, hoping my mom would be home from work. Instead, Smelly Gabe was in the living room, playing poker with his buddies.**

"Oy. The poker games were the worst." Grover muttered, remembering how awful it was when he spent a day out with Percy at his apartment around Christmas time. Sally had to work overtime and Grover had split out of fear of Gabe before she got home

**The television blared ESPN. ****Chips and beer cans were strewn all over the carpet.**

"Disgusting." Pollux, Dionysus' son commented. Because of his dad, he came to resent alcohol and adore Diet Coke.

**Hardly looking up, he said around his cigar, "So you're home."**

**"Where's my mom?"**

**"Working," he said. "You got any cash?"**

"what a way to welcome you home." Katie spat, feeling like Gabe should be attacked by a pod of whales.

"Yeah. _Hey, Percy! You're home! Now hand over your wallet and all personal belongings."_ Leo wheezed like an old old man and got a bunch of laughs.

**That was it. No ****_Welcome back. Good to see you. How has your life been the last six months?_**

_"_How right you are." Grover grumbled, responding to Katie's comment.

**Gabe had put on weight. He looked like a tusk less walrus in thrift-store clothes. He had about three hairs on his head, all combed over his bald scalp, as if that made him handsome or something.**

"That is extremely disgusting." Hazel rubbed her stomach. She could almost feel the sea sickness that she had experienced on the Argo II and the Pax resurfacing. To try and calm her nausea, she rested her head on Frank's shoulder. Her wrapped muscular arm around her gently.

**He managed the Electronics Mega-Mart in Queens, but he stayed home most of the time. I don't know why he hadn't been fired long before.**

**He just kept on collecting paychecks, spending the money on cigars that made me nauseous, and on beer, of course.**

**Always beer. Whenever I was home, he expected me to provide his gambling funds. ****He called that our "guy secret." Meaning, if I told my mom, he would punch my lights out.**

"I bet Percy could punch his lights out. Even as a 12 year old." Conner speculated. In slow motion, he pretended to punch Travis. Travis fell backward, pretending to have gotten a sock to the eye.

"Please Percy! Have mercy!" Travis squealed, portraying Gabe as a girly-man.

Conner pretended to dust his chest and shoulders. "Mercy your face Smelly Gabe!" He pretended to punch Travis again, and he started making girly cries as he continued to mock Gabe.

Everyone started laughing excruciatingly hard. Travis got up and slipped back into his seat. He fist bumped Conner.

"That's a theatrical performance, Valdez."

Leo scowled. Several people (including Annabeth and Percy) expected Leo to lash out about being undermined as a comedian. Instead, Leo asked, "Seriously!? Why is everyone calling me Valdez today?!"

Leo smirked at the Stolls as the arena echoed with even louder and harder laughter than what the two Hermes campers had produced.

Percy restrained himself from yelling 'burn' at Travis and Conner.

**"I don't have any cash," I told him.**

**He raised a greasy eyebrow.**

"That is so nasy," Tiana, a daughter of Iris gagged. Her face turned green, although Frank wasn't sure if that was normal for a daughter of the rainbow goddess. Green was a color in the rainbow, but he was pretty sure that shade wasn't the right one.

**Gabe could sniff out money like a bloodhound, which was surprising, since his own smell should've covered up everything else. "****You took a taxi from the bus station," he said. "Probably paid with a twenty. Got six, seven bucks in change. Somebody expects to live under this roof, he ought to carry his own weight. Am I right, Eddie?"**

**Eddie, the super of the apartment building, looked at me with a twinge of sympathy. "Come on, Gabe," he said. "The kid just got here."**

**"Am I ****_right_****? ****_" _****Gabe repeated.**

"Um...No. In fact, you're way wrong." Nico said, running a hand through his black hair.

**Eddie scowled into his bowl of pretzels. The other two guys passed gas in harmony.**

Several people cringed. Leo laughed. "Very observant Pery."

**"Fine," I said. I dug a wad of dollars out of my pocket and threw the money on the table. "I hope you lose."**

"I love you're enthusiasm." Thalia joked sarcastically.

**"Your report card came, brain boy!" he shouted after me. "I wouldn't act so snooty!"**

"Brain Boy?" Annabeth repeated incredulously. "Is he serious?"

"Relax Annabeth. We all know you're smarter than Percy." Nico assured her, a grin across his lips.

"Yeah, Wise Girl. Don't be jealous of you're semi-intelligent boyfriend." Percy kissed Annabeth, and she smiled against his lips. He could almost cue the thrills coming from Aphrodite. "At least I make up for it in looks right?" He whispered.

Annabeth tried to suppress a smile by swatting his chest with the back of her hand.

**I slammed the door to my room, which really wasn't my room. ****During school months, it was Gabe's "study." He didn't study anything in there except old car magazines, but he loved shoving my stuff in the closet, leaving his muddy boots on my windowsill, and doing his best to make the place smell like his nasty cologne and cigars and stale beer. ****I dropped my suitcase on the bed. Home sweet home.**

**Gabe's smell was almost worse than the nightmares about Mrs. Dodds, or the sound of that old fruit lady's shears snipping the yarn.**

"Yikes." Rachel wimpered.

"Rachel, stop being a wuss." Clarisse muttered.

"Clarisse..." Rachel rolled her eyes, but trailed off when Chris shook his head as a warning when Clarisse smoldered at her.

**But as soon as I thought that, my legs felt weak. I remembered Grover's look of panic—how he'd made me promise I wouldn't go home without him. A sudden chill rolled through me. I felt like someone—something—was looking for me right now, maybe pounding its way up the stairs, growing long, horrible talons.**

"BOO!" Nico and Hazel shouted over Thalia, Piper, Annabeth, Percy, and Grover. They screamed adrenaline rushing, each bringing out a weapon. Hazel and Nico fell back on the stone bleachers laughing along with the Stolls, Leo, and Clarisse.

"I'm gonna kill you di Angelo!" Thalia sprung at Nico, but he shadow traveled at the last second, just nearly missing Thalia's electrical spear.

"Nico!" Annabeth hissed, feeling embarrassed. She pointed her dagger at where he had been sitting but he was definantly not there.

"Sorry guys. He talked me into it." Hazel apologized, flinching mildly in fear of being skewered by Thalia.

"It's alright."

Jason coughed, trying to draw attention away from Hazel.

**Then** **I heard my mom's voice. "Percy?****"She opened the bedroom door, and my fears melted.**

**My mother can make me feel good just by walking into the room. Her eyes sparkle and change color in the light. Her smile is as warm as a quilt. She's got a few gray streaks mixed in with her long brown hair, but I never think of her as old. When she looks at me, it's like she's seeing all the good things about me, none of the bad. I've never heard her raise her voice or say an unkind word to anyone, not even me or Gabe.**

"Wish my mom would have been like that." A girl from Hermes sighed sadly.

**"****Oh, Percy." She hugged me tight. "I can't believe it. You've grown since Christmas!" Her red-white-and-blue Sweet on America uniform smelled like the best things in the world: chocolate, licorice, and all the other stuff she sold at the candy shop in Grand Central.**

"What did you expect? For him to shrink since Christmas?" Chris asked.

"It's one of those weird parent things." A boy from Hephaestus answered.

**She'd brought me a huge bag of "free samples" ****the way she always did when I came home.**

"I remember Percy's mom giving me blue candy! It was so yummy in my tummy! Blue gummy bears!" Tyson exclaimed happily.

**We sat together on the edge of the bed. While I attacked the blueberry sour strings ****she ran her hand through my hair and demanded to know everything I hadn't put in my letters. ****She didn't mention anything about my getting expelled. She didn't seem to care about that. ****But was I okay? Was her little boy doing all right?**

**I told her she was smothering me, and to lay off and all that, but secretly, I was really, really glad to see her.**

**From the other room, Gabe yelled, "Hey, Sally—how about some bean dip, huh?" I gritted my teeth. ****My mom is the nicest lady in the world. She should've been married to a millionaire ****not to some jerk like Gabe. For her sake ****I tried to sound upbeat about my last days at Yancy Academy. I told her I wasn't too down about the expulsion.**

**I'd lasted almost the whole year this time. ****I'd made some new friends. I'd done pretty well in Latin. And honestly, the fights hadn't been as bad as the headmaster said. I liked Yancy Academy. I really did. I put such a good spin on the year, I almost convinced myself. I started choking up, thinking about Grover and Mr. Brunner. Even Nancy Bobofit suddenly didn't seem so bad. ****Until that trip to the museum ...**

"Nancy Bobofit not sounding bad? Gabe must be worse than Hades..." Rachel muttered, head in her hands.

Piper flinched as Nico appeared beside her in Jason's spot. She shuddered, then poked his arm. "Nico, that's Jason's spot."

Nico looked down at the concrete he on. He shrugged, rebellious teenager style. "He's not using it."

Piper opened her mouth to say something, but he melted into a sea of shadows, reappearing beside Hazel again.

**"What?" my mom asked. Her eyes tugged at my conscience, trying to pull out the secrets. ****"Did something scare you?"**

**"No, Mom."**

**I felt bad lying. ****I wanted to tell her about Mrs. Dodds and the three old ladies with the yarn, but I thought it would sound stupid. ****She pursed her lips. She knew I was holding back, but she didn't push me.**

**"I have a surprise for you," she said. "We're going to the beach." **

**My eyes widened. "Montauk?"**

**"Three nights—same cabin."**

"I would so love to hang out there with you," Percy murmured, nuzzling Annabeth's soft blonde hair.

"Yeah bro! After this, I can pack a duffle bag and we can be there in 20 minutes." Leo suggested beaming. Percy gave Leo a look that said, _dude! I wasn't talking to you. Shut up!_

"Um...no." Annabeth responded.

Several people chuckled.

**"When?"**

**She smiled. "As soon as I get changed."**

**I couldn't believe it. My mom and I hadn't been to Montauk the last two summers ****because Gabe said there wasn't enough money.**

**Gabe appeared in the doorway and growled, "Bean dip, Sally? Didn't you hear me?" I wanted to punch him ****but I met my mom's eyes and I understood she was offering me a deal: be nice to Gabe for a little while. Just until she was ready to leave for Montauk. Then we would get out of here.**

**"I was on my way, honey," ****she told Gabe. "We were just talking about the ****trip."**

"Honey? Don't make me sick." Phoebe snarled, swatting at a mosquito.

** Gabe's eyes got small. "The trip? You mean you were serious about that?"**

**"I knew it," I muttered. "He won't let us go."**

**"Of course he will," my mom said evenly. "Your stepfather is just worried about money. That's all. Besides," she added, "Gabriel won't have to settle for bean dip. I'll make him enough seven-layer dip for the whole weekend. Guacamole. Sour cream. The works."**

**Gabe softened a bit. "So this money for your trip ... it comes out of your clothes budget, right?"**

"Clothes budget? Is he serious!?" Katie cried, running her hands through her hair frustrated.

"How cruel can a guy be?" Ryan asked out loud. He sympathized for Percy. Faith leaned her head on his arm.

"Yeah! How could she have a _limit _on clothes?" Kelsea, an Aphrodite camper shrieked in terror.

**"Yes, honey," my mother said.**

**"And you won't take my car anywhere but there and back."**

**"We'll be very careful."**

**Gabe scratched his double chin. "Maybe if you hurry with that seven-layer dip ... And maybe if the kid apologizes for interrupting my poker game."**

"How is coming homing home an interruption to a poker game?" Annabeth scowled. She hadn't realized how awful Gabe was until now, despite the stories Percy had told her.

Percy squeezed her hand, reassuring her that he was alright now and his mom was safe and happy.

**Maybe if I kick you in your soft spot, I thought. And make you sing soprano for a week.**

Everyone laughed at that. Percy stood up and bowed playfully.

"Sit down Jackson! I'm reading here!" Jason shouted jokingly, shaking the book for emphasis. Percy shrugged with a grin, which Jason returned.

"Take it easy, Jason." Thalia and Piper said at the same time. They exchanged a smile.

**But my mom's eyes warned me not to make him mad.**

**Why did she put up with this guy? I wanted to scream. Why did she care what he thought? "****I'm sorry," I muttered. "I'm really sorry I interrupted your incredibly important poker game. Please go back to it right now."**

**Gabe's eyes narrowed. His tiny brain was probably trying to detect sarcasm in my statement.**

**"Yeah, whatever," he decided.**

**He went back to his game.**

**"Thank you, Percy," my mom said. "Once we get to Montauk, we'll talk more about... whatever you've forgotten to tell me, okay?"**

**For a moment, I thought I saw anxiety in her eyes—the same fear I'd seen in Grover during the bus ride—as if my mom too felt an odd chill in the air. ****But then her smile returned, and I figured I must have been mistaken. She ruffled my hair and went to make Gabe his seven-layer dip.**

**An hour later we were ready to leave.**

**Gabe took a break from his poker game long enough to watch me lug my mom's bags to the car. He kept griping and groaning about losing her cooking and more important, his '78 Camaro—for the whole weekend.**

**"Not a scratch on this car, brain boy," he warned me as I loaded the last bag. "Not one little scratch."**

"Not a scratch." Grover repeated, a crooked smile on his lips. "I hope he has insurance for damage inflicted by Minotaurs."

Thunder rumbled.

Grover held up his palms. "I apologize!"

**Like I'd be the one driving. I was twelve. But that didn't matter to Gabe. If a seagull so much as pooped on his paint job, he'd find a way to blame me.**

"That might be more difficult than it sounds." Conner said.

"Crap on a car?" Leo wondered. Right on cue—the entire camp laughs.

"No, you idiot. Blaming stuff for no reason."

"And you're a son of Hermes?"

**Watching him lumber back toward the apartment building, I got so mad I did something I can't explain.**

**As Gabe reached the doorway, I made the hand gesture I'd seen Grover make on the bus, a sort of warding-off-evil gesture, a clawed hand over my heart, then a shoving movement toward Gabe.**

**The screen door slammed shut so hard it whacked him in the butt and sent him flying up the staircase as if he'd been shot from a cannon.**

"For once, thank you Zeus!" Percy whispered toward the sky.

**Maybe it was just the wind, or some freak accident with the hinges, ****but I didn't stay long enough to find out. I got in the Camaro and told my mom to step on it.**

**Our rental cabin was on the south shore, way out at the tip of Long Island. It was a little pastel box with faded curtains, half sunken into the dunes. There was always sand in the sheets and spiders in the cabinets, and most of the time the sea was too cold to swim in. I loved the place.**

"SPIDERS!?" Annabeth and every Athena camper exclaimed.

"It's okay, Annabeth." Thalia soothed.

"They're not here." Rachel added. She used a green headband to keep her red hair out of her face.

"Its okay." Piper patted Annabths arm.

Percy kissed her head.

**We'd been going there since I was a baby. My mom had been going even longer. She never exactly said, but I knew why the beach was special to her. It was the place where she'd met my dad.**

**As we got closer to Montauk, she seemed to grow younger, years of worry and work disappearing from her face. Her eyes turned the color of the sea. **

**We got there at sunset, opened all the cabin's windows, and went through our usual cleaning routine. We walked on the beach, fed blue corn chips to the seagulls, and munched on blue jelly beans, blue saltwater taffy, and all the other free samples my mom had brought from work.**

"Favorite color?" Lieta from Iris' cabin asked.

**I guess I should explain the blue food.**

"And my lifelong philosophical question will be answered." Lieta huffed sarcastically.

**See, Gabe had once told my mom there was no such thing. ****They had this fight ****which seemed like a really small thing at the time. But ever since, my mom went out of her way to eat blue. She baked blue birthday cakes. She mixed blueberry smoothies. She bought blue-corn tortilla chips and brought home blue candy from the shop.**

**This—along with keeping her maiden name, Jackson, rather than calling herself Mrs. Ugliano—was proof that she wasn't totally suckered by Gabe. She did have a rebellious streak, like me.**

"So it's your mom I have to blame for your personality? Not Poseidon?" Leo asked.

Piper glared at Leo. "Not a cool thing to say."

**When it got dark, we made a fire.**

"Fire?" Frank repeated.

"Fire!" Tyson echoed playfully. "I make boats in the lava with the harpies when I get in trouble."

"Tantalus," Annabeth clarified the weird looks the poor Cyclops was getting.

**We roasted hot dogs and marshmallows. Mom told me stories about when she was a kid, back before her parents died in the plane crash.**

**She told me about the books she wanted to write someday, when she had enough money to quit the candy shop.**

**Eventually, I got up the nerve to ask about what was always on my mind whenever we came to Montauk—my father. Mom's eyes went all misty. I figured she would tell me the same things she always did, but I never got tired of hearing them.**

**"He was kind, Percy," she said. "Tall, handsome, and powerful. But gentle, too. You have his black hair, you know, and his green eyes."**

"I bet Poseidon would appreciate hearing that." Nico slouched in his seat, the stone starting to be a pain in the butt—literally.

**Mom fished a blue jelly bean out of her candy bag. "I wish he could see you, Percy. He would be so proud."**

**I wondered how she could say that. ****What was so great about me? ****A dyslexic, hyperactive boy with a D+ report card, kicked out of school for the sixth time in six years.**

**"How old was I?" I asked. "I mean ... when he left?" **

**She watched the flames. "He was only with me for one summer, Percy. Right here at this beach. This cabin."**

**"But... he knew me as a baby."**

**"No, honey. He knew I was expecting a baby, but he never saw you. He had to leave before you were born."**

Percy sighed loudly. "I still have a tough time coping with that."

Grover patted his shoulder. Tyson gave him a one of a kind smile. Annabeth gave his hand a squeeze.

**I tried to square that with the fact that I seemed to remember ... something about my father. A warm glow. A smile.**

**I had always assumed he knew me as a baby. My mom had never said it outright, but still, I'd felt it must be true. Now, to be told that he'd never even seen me ... I felt angry at my father. **

**Maybe it was stupid, but I resented him for going on that ocean voyage, for not having the guts to marry my mom. He'd left us, and now we were stuck with Smelly Gabe.**

"Sensible outburst," Jason conceded quietly.

**"Are you going to send me away again?" I asked her. "To another boarding school?" She pulled a marshmallow from the fire.**

**"I don't know, honey." Her voice was heavy. "I think ... I think we'll have to do something.**

**"Because you don't want me around?" ****I regretted the words as soon as they were out.**

**My mom's eyes welled with tears. She took my hand, squeezed it tight. "Oh, Percy, no. I—I ****_have _****to, honey. For your own good. I have to send you away." Her words reminded me of what Mr. Brunner had said—that it was best for me to leave Yancy.**

"I'm so glad that you have come to enjoy camp so much by now." Chiron chuckled softly from off to the side. Percy gave him a salute.

**"Because I'm not normal," I said.**

**"You say that as if it's a bad thing, Percy. But you don't realize how important you are. I thought Yancy Academy would be far enough away. I thought you'd finally be safe."**

"No one is really ever safe." Clarisse muttered under her breath.

**"Safe from what?"**

**She met my eyes, and a flood of memories came back to me—all the weird, scary things that had ever happened to me, some of which I'd tried to forget.**

**During third grade, a man in a black trench coat had stalked me on the playground. When the teachers threatened to call the police, he went away growling, but no one believed me when I told them that under his broad-brimmed hat, the man only had one eye, right in the middle of his head.**

"Bad Cyclops." Tyson frowned, tears threatening. Cyclops should not hurt Percy.

**Before that—a really early memory. I was in preschool, and a teacher accidentally put me down for a nap in a cot that a snake had slithered into. My mom screamed when she came to pick me up and found me playing with a limp, scaly rope I'd somehow managed to strangle to death with my meaty toddler hands.**

"Didn't Hercules do that?" Alyssa, an Aphrodite camper asked.

A few people glanced at her like they were surprised that an Aphrodite girl knew that, which Piper found mildly insulting.

"Yes, Alyssa. Hercules did strangle a python as an infant." Chiron confirmed.

**In every single school, something creepy had happened, something unsafe, and I was forced to move.**

**I knew I should tell my mom about the old ladies at the fruit stand, and Mrs. Dodds at the art museum, about my weird hallucination that I had sliced my math teacher into dust with a sword.**

**But I couldn't make myself tell her. I had a strange feeling the news would end our trip to Montauk, and I didn't want that.**

**"I've tried to keep you as close to me as I could," my mom said. "They told me that was a mistake. But there's only one other option, Percy—the place your father wanted to send you. And I just... I just can't stand to do it."**

**"My father wanted me to go to a special school?"**

**"Not a school," she said softly. "A summer camp." My head was spinning. Why would my dad—who hadn't even stayed around long enough to see me born— talk to my mom about a summer camp? And if it was so important, why hadn't she ever mentioned it before?" **

**"I'm sorry, Percy," she said, seeing the look in my eyes. "But I can't talk about it. I—I couldn't send you to that place. It might mean saying good-bye to you for good."**

**"For good? But if it's only a summer camp ..."**

**She turned toward the fire, and I knew from her expression that if I asked her any more questions she would start to cry.**

**That night I had a vivid dream. ****It was storming on the beach, and two beautiful animals, a white horse and a golden eagle, were trying to kill each other at the edge of the surf.**

**The eagle swooped down and slashed the horse's muzzle with its huge talons. The horse reared up and kicked at the eagles wings. As they fought, the ground rumbled, and a monstrous voice chuckled somewhere beneath the earth, goading the animals to fight harder.**

"I forgot that dream." Percy breathed, remembering the details that had scared him before Kronos and Gaea started manipulating his dreams.

"Golden eagle and white horse, huh?" Thalia asked, although it came more like a comment.

"Apparently." Frank acknowledged from the back.

"Zeus and Poseidon." Ryan realized, kicking his sleep numb foot against the ground.

**I ran toward them, knowing I had to stop them from killing each other, but I was running in slow motion. I knew I would be too late. I saw the eagle dive down, its beak aimed at the horse's wide eyes, and I screamed,**_No!_

**I woke with a start.**

**Outside, it really was storming, the kind of storm that cracks trees and blows down houses. There was no horse or eagle on the beach, just lightning making false daylight, and twenty-foot waves pounding the dunes like artillery.**

**With the next thunderclap, my mom woke. She sat up, eyes wide, and said, "Hurricane." **

**I knew that was crazy. Long Island never sees hurricanes this early in the summer. But the ocean seemed to have forgotten. Over the roar of the wind, I heard a distant bellow, an angry, tortured sound that made my hair stand on end.**

**Then a much closer noise, like mallets in the sand. A desperate voice—someone yelling, pounding on our cabin door.**

**My mother sprang out of bed in her nightgown and threw open the lock. ****Grover stood framed in the doorway against a backdrop of pouring rain. ****But he wasn't... he wasn't exactly Grover.**

"I was too Grover!" Grover bleated.

"Minus pants." Chris reminded him.

**"Searching all night," he gasped. "What were you thinking?" My mother looked at me in terror—not scared of Grover, but of why he'd come.**

**"Percy," she said, shouting to be heard over the rain. "What happened at school? What didn't you tell me?"**

**I was frozen, looking at Grover. I couldn't understand what I was seeing.**

**_"O Zeu kai alloi theoi!" _****he yelled. "It's right behind me! Didn't you ****_tell _****her?****"**

"Grover, language." Chiron shook his head, arms crossed. Grover looked at the ground ashamed.

**I was too shocked to register that he'd just cursed in Ancient Greek, and I'd understood him perfectly. I was too shocked to wonder how Grover had gotten here by himself in the middle of the night. Because Grover didn't have his pants on—and where his legs should be ... where his legs should be ...**

**My mom looked at me sternly and talked in a tone she'd never used before: ****_"Percy. _****Tell me ****_now_****!"**

**I stammered something about the old ladies at the fruit stand, and Mrs. Dodds, and my mom stared at me, her face deathly pale in the flashes of lightning.**

"I wonder if your dad did that storm on purpose." Leo called to Jason.

"Sounds like Zeus." Nico agreed.

"I wouldn't bet on it." Thalia muttered.

**She grabbed her purse, tossed me my rain jacket, and said, "Get to the car. Both of you. ****_Go_****!"**

"Am I the only one who thinks the rain coat wouldn't help much?" Rachel asked. Several hands shot up. She nodded in agreement. Percy gave her a sarcastic salute.

**Grover ran for the Camaro—but he wasn't running, exactly. He was trotting, shaking his shaggy hindquarters, and suddenly his story about a muscular disorder in his legs made sense to me. I understood how he could run so fast and still limp when he walked. **

**Because where his feet should be, there were no feet. There were cloven hooves.**

Jason held closed the book on his fingers. "That's the end of chapter three."

"This book is actually really well written." Maria, a daughter of Hypnos, praised with a sleepy undertone.

"Especially using the condensed thoughts of Seaweed Brain." Annabeth added. She flipped some hair out of her face, then decided to redo the entire ponytail.

Jason cleared his throat. "Come on! Any takers?"

"I do!" Hazel dodged around several people. When she made it to the log, Jason handed the book off to her.

"Have fun Hazel." Jason strolled back to his front row spot beside Piper and Leo.

Hazel sat with her legs criss crossed on the stump. "Okay. Chapter four..."

* * *

**Can I get a what what? Yaya! Three days in a row! Like I said legitimately FUN! I even blew off a history project to do this chapter. Hopefully, I can finish by Thursday...Yeah.**

**Please: review, follow, favorite!**

**They make me happy :D**


	5. Luke or Liam?

**Chapter 4: Luke or Liam?**

Hazel gripped the thick book in her nimble fingers. She took a slow breath and tried to ignore how many people were watching her. She understood why Piper had looked so realieved for her turn to be done. Focusing her crossed eyes on the words, she began to read.

**Chapter Four: My Mother Teaches Me Bullfighting**

"Sounds promising." Chris nodded.

**We tore through the night along dark country roads. Wind slammed against the Camaro. Rain lashed the wind shield. I didn't know how my mom could see anything, but she kept her foot on the gas.**

"I've had my license for a few years already and i still haven't managed to drive safely during rainstorms." Clarisse muttered, head in her hands.

"Coming from a daughter of Ares, I'm surprised you even got your license." A son of Hermes snickered. Clarisse shot him a death glare.

"Rico, please do not infuriate Clarisse. We just had the stables rebuilt from last time." Chiron broke up another argument for what seemed like the 100th time that morning.

**Every time there was a flash of lightning, ****I looked at Grover sitting next to me in the backseat and I wondered if I'd gone insane, or if he was wearing some kind of shag-carpet pants. ****But, no, the smell was one I remembered from kindergarten field trips to the petting zoo— lanolin, like from wool. The smell of a wet barnyard animal.**

"Yeah. Taking showers is almost worse than not bathing." Grover admitted, shaking a furry leg.

"Not to mention when you have to sit next you while you're drying." Percy muttered.

Annabeth laughed half heartedly. "The trip back from the Sea of Monsters was horrible!" He grey eyes widened and she clapped a hand over her mouth. She turned to Grover. "I am so sorry, Grover."

Grover gave a weak smile. "Its no problem, Annabeth."

**All I could think to say was, "So, you and my mom... know each other?"**

"Real smooth Percy." Leo grinned.

**Grover's eyes flitted to the rearview mirror, though there were no cars behind us. "Not exactly," he said. "I mean, we've never met in person. But she knew I was watching you."**

**"Watching me?"**

"Stalker." Conner shouted, cupping his hands around his mouth like a megaphone.

Grover rolled his eyes. "Without us stalkers, more than half of you would be monster chow." Grover grinned at the sudden silence. That got em.

Percy laughed and punched Grover softly on the shoulder. Okay. _Most _of them.

**"Keeping tabs on you. Making sure you were okay. But I wasn't faking being your friend," he added hastily. "I **_**am **_**your friend."**

**"Um ... what **_**are **_**you, exactly?"**

**"That doesn't matter right now."**

**"It doesn't matter? From the waist down, my best friend is a donkey—"**

**Grover let out a sharp, throaty "**_**Blaa-ha-ha**_**!"**

**I'd heard him make that sound before, but I'd always assumed it was a nervous laugh. Now I realized it was more of an irritated bleat.**

**"Goat!" he cried.**

**"What?"**

**"I'm a **_**goat **_**from the waist down."**

**"You just said it didn't matter."**

**"**_**Blaa-ha-ha**_**!** **There are satyrs who would trample you under hoof for such an insult!"**

"Coach Hedge would be one of those satyrs." Jason whispered to Piper. Piper nodded in agreement.

**"Whoa. Wait. Satyrs. You mean like ... Mr. Brunner's myths?"**

**"Were those old ladies at the fruit stand a **_**myth, **_**Percy? Was Mrs. Dodds a myth?"**

**"So you **_**admit **_**there was a Mrs. Dodds!"**

"Dude, i really hope that you have let that go by now." Nico grumbled, a smile tugging at his lips. It kinda gave him a little hope that he wasn't the only demigod who had been a dorky 12 year old.

"Um. Yeah. I've been over that since...like, last Tuesday." Percy joked. He got a couple of random looks and he started laughing. "I'm kidding. Of course i got over it when it happened! Once you face off Kronos then Gaea, theres no going back."

**"Of course."**

**"Then why—"**

**"The less you knew, the fewer monsters you'd attract," Grover said, like that should be perfectly obvious. "We put Mist over the humans' eyes. We hoped you'd think the Kindly One was a hallucination."**

Rachel huffed. "The Mist isn't very effective on me." Several of the kids from he Hecate cabin turned their attention towards the ground. Rachel bit her lower lip, wishing she could take it back. "I'm so sorry. I...I didn't mean—"

"No one ever does," Tammy, the head counselor of the Hecate cabin, replied sourly.

**"But it was no good. You started to realize who you are."**

**"Who I—wait a minute, what do you mean?"**

**The weird bellowing noise rose up again somewhere behind us, closer than before. Whatever was chasing us was still on our trail.**

"Minotaur!" Travis and Conner shouted together, making weird shapes with their arms.

"Excuse me, but names have power." Chiron reminded the two rambunctious Hermes campers.

**"Percy," my mom said, "there's too much to explain and not enough time. We have to get you to safety."**

**"Safety from what? Who's after me?"**

**"Oh, nobody much," Grover said, obviously still miffed about the donkey comment. "Just the Lord of the Dead and a few of his blood-thirstiest minions."**

The entire camp exploded with laughter. Hazel clutched her stomach as she fought for breath. It had been extremely difficult for her to read the paragraph with a straight face. "Grover! You're hilarious!"

Grover blushed. Tyson patted Grover's shoulder. "You are funny."

**"Grover!"**

**"Sorry, Mrs. Jackson. Could you drive faster, please?"**

Annabeth giggled. "I love how he apologized, then said, 'drive faster' politely."

**I tried to wrap my mind around what was happening, but I couldn't do it. I knew this wasn't a dream. I had no imagination. I could never dream up something this weird.**

"No imagination?! What the heck man!?" Leo exclaimed, face distorted.

**My mom made a hard left. We swerved onto a narrower road, racing past darkened farmhouses and wooded hills and PICK YOUR OWN STRAWBERRIES signs on white picket fences.**

"I helped make those signs." Katie perked up a bit, remembering the dozens of signs she had constructed.

"Me too." Clarisse snarled quietly. Then her voice dropped to almost a whisper."I had gotten into a fight with Silena and played an awful prank on her. I had to make signs with Demeter's cabin as a punishment by Mr D. B-but...that was before..." her voice trailed off and tears threatened. Chris took a firm grip on her hand.

"**Where are we going?" I asked.**

**"The summer camp I told you about." My mother's voice was tight; she was trying for my sake not to be scared. "The place your father wanted to send you."**

**"The place you didn't want me to go."**

**"Please, dear," my mother begged. "This is hard enough. Try to understand. You're in danger."**

**"Because some old ladies cut yarn."**

**"Those weren't old ladies," Grover said. "Those were the Fates. Do you know what it means—the fact they appeared in front of you? They only do that when you're about to ... when someone's about to die."**

"Oh my gods, the Fates in Hercules were so ugly." Frank murmured. He got some blank looks. He shrugged with a look that said, 'how do you not know what I talking about?' "Disney depiction?"

"I know that movie." Piper chimed in.

Frank mentally hugged Piper for knowing the movie.

"Me and my dad watched it when we were researching that one movie role." Piper scrunched up her nose and scowled. "I can't believe that they made Hercules likable."

Jason nodded. "He was more of a class A jerk face." He moderated his language now that campers ranged from as young as eleven to six.

Annabeth bobbed her head with a frown. "I saw it when I was a kid. It was really inaccurate. For one matter, Chiron trained Hercules."

Nico leaned forward so that his head was right between Annabeth and Grover. "Yeah." Annabeth jumped, surprised by how close he was. "Hades is not blue and he never released the Titans." Annabeth was calming down, but was absent mindedly staring at the son of Hades. Nico smirked. "Hey Annabeth."

Annabeth snapped out of her adrenaline shocked state and whipped around, blonde hair slapping Nico across the face.

"The Titans weren't even right! Kronos, the most sick and twisted Titan, besides maybe Gaea, wasn't even a part of those Titans! Neither was Typhon! The writers just made four random dudes ans called them Titans!" Percy ranted along with all of his friends. He thought was amusing how everyone was just correcting a movie of its errors that had been around since they were born.

"Also in the movie, Hera loves Hercules like he's her son. Doesn't she hate him in real life?" Hazel asked, vaguely remembering their passage to the Mediterranean.

Jason, Annabeth, and Percy's moods darkened at the sound of Hera's name. "Yes." Annabeth replied after a tense pause.

"Yah. And Hermes isn't blue." Andy, a 13 year old Hermes boy joined in.

Several other people spouted complaints about the movie. Hazel out her and after a moment, all eyes were on her. She gave a weak smile to the audience. I realize we could spend weeks correcting every misconception,"—whoa, big vocabulary—"but we should get back to the book."

Frank shot his hand in the air. "I agree." Leave it to Peace maker Hazel to get everyone back on track. Everyone around him mumbled in agreement.

**"Whoa. You said 'you.'"**

**"No I didn't. I said 'someone.'"**

**"You meant 'you.' As in **_**me.**_**"**

**"I meant **_**you, **_**like 'someone.' Not you, **_**you.**_**"**

**"Boys!" my mom said.**

"why are petty arguments so entertaining?" An 18 year old daughter of Nemesis sighed, a smile of content across her face.

**She pulled the wheel hard to the right, and I got a glimpse of a figure she'd swerved to avoid—a dark fluttering shape now lost behind us in the storm.**

**"What was that?" I asked.**

"a horrific monster that only wears stained underwear, twelve year old me." Percy said to the book sarcastically, as if his past self could comprehend what he was saying.

His friends around him busted out laughing.

**"We're almost there," my mother said, ignoring my question. ****"Another mile. Please. Please. Please."**

**I didn't know where **_**there **_**was, but I found myself leaning forward in the car, anticipating, wanting us to arrive.**

"When do I come in?" Annabeth asked irritated, leaning forward and backwards. Like most demigod, her ADHD only allowed her to sit still for so long.

Hazel sweeped her chestnut colored curls off to side. She skipped ahead in the book a ways before stopping, and flipping back. End of the chapter, Annabeth."

**Outside, nothing but rain and darkness—the kind of empty countryside you get way out on the tip of Long Island. I thought about Mrs. Dodds and the moment when she'd changed into the thing with pointed teeth and leathery wings. My limbs went numb from delayed shock. She really **_**hadn't **_**been human. She'd meant to kill me.**

"Long Island...? Never been there." Leo stroked an imaginary beard, trying desperately not to crack a smile.

"You really are a slow processor, Kelp Head." Thalia laughed, blue eyes glowing.

Carmen gasped. "Thalia! You're laughing!" The Stills, Jason, and Percy chuckled. Thalia scowled again, and a jolt of electricity made Carmen's wrist burn. Carmen whimpered softly.

**Then I thought about Mr. Brunner ... and the sword he had thrown me. Before I could ask Grover about that, the hair rose on the back of my neck. There was a blinding flash, a jaw-rattling **_**boom!, **_**and our car exploded.**

**I remember feeling weightless, like I was being crushed, fried, and hosed down all at the same time.**

**I peeled my forehead off the back of the driver's seat and said, "Ow."**

**"Percy!" my mom shouted.**

**"I'm okay..."**

**I tried to shake off the daze. I wasn't dead. The car hadn't really exploded. We'd swerved into a ditch. Our driver's-side doors were wedged in the mud. The roof had cracked open like an eggshell and rain was pouring in.**

**Lightning.**

"Dad!?" Jason and Thalia shouted at the same time.

Thunder boomed.

Jason stared up at the clouds, dead serious. "I don't care if it was an accident five years ago!" Percy watched stared at his friend talking to the sky.

Lightning illuminated the atmosphere. Thalia eyes, shoving her hands into her back pockets. "Whatever." She aloud her in her seat. Thunder crackled. Thalia made a face. "No, dad. I didn't sass you."

"Wow." Piper, Percy, and Annabeth mumbled.

"How did you sass dad and get away with it?" Jason asked skeptically.

Thalia grinned. "Don't hold your breath Blondey. I'm Zeus' favorite kid."

"Punk."

**That was the only explanation. We'd been blasted right off the road. Next to me in the backseat was a big motionless lump. "Grover!"**

**He was slumped over, blood trickling from the side of his mouth. I shook his furry hip, thinking, No! Even if you are half barnyard animal, you're my best friend and I don't want you to die!**

"Awwwee! Percy, you're sooo sweet!" An Aphrodite girl gushed, fake lashes fluttering.

Annabeth growled in her direction, and the girl reluctantly backed off. Still, Annabeth didn't calm down until Seaweed Brain squeezed her hand and rested his head against hers.

"Percy and Annabeth sitting in a tree..." Frank, Leo,.and Jason sang, knowing that it would embarrass their friends.

"K-I-S-S-I-N-G!" Everyone else, excluding Chiron was watching amused from the side, joined in the singing.

"You're all behaving like four year olds!" Annabeth stuttered, her face pink like a strawberry.

Tyson shuddered. "EWW! Kissing is gross!"

Everton giggles at Tyson. Percy chuckled. "That's okay Tyson. You shouldn't like kissing yet." He told his younger brother, who happened to still be half a foot taller.

**Then he groaned "Food," and I knew there was hope.**

"Food+hope=Grover?" Travis asked, ruffling Katie's blonde hair. "Weirdest equation ever!"

Katie pushed away Travis' hand with a playful smile. "Don't touch my hair!"

"Katie and Travis sitting in a tree..." Leo grinned wickedly.

"K-I-S-S-I-N-G!" Everyone, including Annabeth and Percy, sang.

Katie turned pink, and Travis snuck a kiss onto her cheek. The crowd cheered playfully. Katie bit her lip and risked it in front of the camp. She pulled Travis into a full kiss. Travis fist bumped the air like a champion as everyone cheered again. Katie pulled away, and looked at the ground flushed.

"Come on Percy! Kiss Annabeth!" Faith said giddily.

Ryan pushed her back a bit. "Relax."

"Is the kissing all done now?" Tyson had his giant hands covering his face.

Percy grinned in Faith's direction. "Just a sec big guy." He leaned over and kissed Annabeth. Annabeth smile against his lips as the all their friends let out 'whoops!' They pulled away, mainly for the sake of Tyson.

"Tyson," Frank tapped the Cyclops on the shoulder. "They're done."

"No more kissing?" Tyson verified, before opening his fingers.

"No more kissing." Chris's confirmed.

Tyson opened his eye. He took a fresh breath and exhaled deeply.

**"Percy," my mother said, "we have to ..." Her voice faltered.**

**I looked back. In a flash of lightning, through the mud-spattered rear windshield, I saw a figure lumbering toward us on the shoulder of the road. The sight of it made my skin crawl. It was a dark silhouette of a huge guy, like a football player. He seemed to be holding a blanket over his head. His top half was bulky and fuzzy. His upraised hands made it look like he had horns.**

"Unfortunately, those are real horns." Chiron adjusted his armor. He wasn't sure why he had put it on if the day was going to consist of reading.

**I swallowed hard. "Who is—"**

**"Percy," my mother said, deadly serious. "Get out of the car."**

**My mother threw herself against the driver's-side door. It was jammed shut in the mud. I tried mine. Stuck too. I looked up desperately at the hole in the roof. It might've been an exit, but the edges were sizzling and smoking.**

**"Climb out the passenger's side!" my mother told me. "Percy—you have to run. Do you see that big tree?"**

"That's me! There I am!" Thalia beamed.

A sandy blonde haired Hermes boy, around twelve turned toward Thalia. She took a sharp intake of air when she saw him— he looked almost identical to Luke when he was younger. "You were a tree? Like a nymph?"

Thalia shook her head, heart heavy. It was hard looking at this boy and not remember that Luke had once been like that, before Kronos brainwashed him. Oh Luke... "No, I'm not a nymph. It's a long story, and I'm sure the book will explain it."

The boy smiled crookedly, similar to how Luke used to because of his scar. "Cool."

Thalia felt like crying, like a piece of her soul that had been hurt had resurfaced. Annabeth noticed the pain on Thalia's face, and slipped her hand into hers. Thalia squeezed her fingers in security. Annabeth nodded in sympathy. The first time she had met Liam, she had called him Luke, and it had seemed to get even more painful to look at him.

"**What?"**

**Another flash of lightning, and through the smoking hole in the roof I saw the tree she meant: a huge, White House Christmas tree-sized pine at the crest of the nearest hill.**

**"That's the property line," my mom said. "Get over that hill and you'll see a big farmhouse down in the valley. Run and don't look back. Yell for help. Don't stop until you reach the door."**

**"Mom, you're coming too."**

**Her face was pale, her eyes as sad as when she looked at the ocean.**

**"No!" I shouted. "You **_**are **_**coming with me. Help me carry Grover."**

"Loyalty..." Frank murmured, vaguely remembering a conversation with Mars telling him that Percy's fatal flaw was loyalty. Frank huffed, almost jealous. Better than a half burned stick.

**"Food!" Grover moaned, a little louder.**

**The man with the blanket on his head kept coming toward us, making his grunting, snorting noises. As he got closer, I realized he **_**couldn't **_**be holding a blanket over his head, because his hands—huge meaty hands—were swinging at his sides. **

"There _can't_ be a blanket! He's not a fricken super hero!" Rachel exclaimed, her head spinning.

"Rach, I think you're just over thinking things." Piper suggested.

**There was no blanket. Meaning the bulky, fuzzy mass that was too big to be his head ... was his head. And the points that looked like horns…**"

**"He doesn't want **_**us**_**," my mother told me. "He wants **_**you. **_**Besides, I can't cross the property line."**

**"But..."**

**"We don't have time, Percy. Go. Please." ****I got mad, then—mad at my mother, ****at Grover the goat,****at the thing with horns that was lumbering toward us slowly and deliberately like, like a bull.**

"You have some anger issues dude," Nico said, knowing from experience that ticking off Percy Jackson meant trouble. After all Nico had done that already twice. Well, maybe three. Unless you count that other time. Or the time after that...

Percy shrugged. "I got anger problems?" He pointed toward the crack in the dining pavilion. "What do ya call that do Angelo?"

Nico grinned. "You're lucky to be alive."

Percy was ready to comment back, but Annabeth cut in. "BOTH OF YOU KNOCK IT OFF!"

Nico fell back into his seat, arms crossed and muttering in ancient Greek. Percy did likewise.

**I climbed across Grover and pushed the door open into the rain. "We're going together. Come on, Mom."**

**"I told you—"**

**"Mom! I am not leaving you. Help me with Grover."**

**I didn't wait for her answer. I scrambled outside, dragging Grover from the car. He was surprisingly light, but I couldn't have carried him very far if my mom hadn't come to my aid.**

**Together, we draped Grover's arms over our shoulders and started stumbling uphill through wet waist-high grass.**

"Demeter's cabin!" A boy from Nemesis shouted.

"Nuh uh!" Miranda, Katie's half-sister retorted.

**Glancing back, I got my first clear look at the monster. He was seven feet tall, easy, his arms and legs like something from the cover of**_**Muscle Man **_**magazine—bulging biceps and triceps and a bunch of other 'ceps, all stuffed like baseballs under vein-webbed skin. He wore no clothes except under wear****—** **I mean, bright white Fruit of the Looms—****which would've looked funny, except that the top half of his body was so scary. Coarse brown hair started at about his belly button and got thicker as it reached his shoulders.**

**His neck was a mass of muscle and fur leading up to his enormous head, which had a snout as long as my arm, snotty nostrils with a gleaming brass ring, cruel black eyes, and horns—enormous black-and-white horns with points you just couldn't get from an electric sharpener.**

**I recognized the monster, all right. He had been in one of the first stories Mr. Brunner told us. But he couldn't be real.**

"Oh he's real. We kill him twice." Percy was talking to himself again. Annabeth rolled her eyes. Leo and Jason laughed.

**I blinked the rain out of my eyes. "That's—"**

**"Pasiphae's son," my mother said.**

"Pasiphae," Hazel spat, remembering the witch that had blocked the Doors of Death. She would have killed Annabeth Percy if Hazel hadn't manipulated the Mist to her liking.

"She was creepy," Leo conceded. Hazel had hauled him along through crazy corridors and dark pits, all part of an imaginary labyrinth designed by the Mist.

"We would've been doomed without Hecate's help." Hazel added quickly. Several campers beamed.

**"I wish I'd known how badly they want to kill you."**

**"But he's the Min—"**

**"Don't say his name," she warned. "Names have power."**

**The pine tree was still way too far—a hundred yards uphill at least.**

"Sounds like what happened this morning. 100 yards..." Phoebe muttered, twirling a strand of her blonde hair around her index finger. At least Dr Thorn was dust in Tartarus again.

**I glanced behind me again.**

**The bull-man hunched over our car, looking in the windows—or not looking, exactly. More like snuffling, nuzzling. I wasn't sure why he bothered, since we were only about fifty feet away.**

"Snuffling is not a real word." Malcolm corrected.

**"Food?" Grover moaned.**

"Grover, do you ever think about anything else but food?"

"Juniper." Grover answered.

"AWWWEEE."

**"Shhh," I told him. "Mom, what's he doing? Doesn't he see us?"**

**"His sight and hearing are terrible," she said. "He goes by smell. But he'll figure out where we are soon enough."**

**As if on cue, the bull-man bellowed in rage. He picked up Gabe's Camaro by the torn roof, the chassis creaking and groaning. He raised the car over his head and threw it down the road. It slammed into the wet asphalt and skidded in a shower of sparks for about half a mile before coming to a stop. The gas tank exploded.**

_**Not a scratch, **_**I remembered Gabe saying.**

"Haha! Take that Smelly Gabe!" Tyson cheered

**Oops.**

**"Percy," my mom said. "When he sees us, he'll charge. Wait until the last second, then jump out of the way— directly sideways. He can't change directions very well once he's charging. Do you understand?"**

**"How do you know all this?"**

**"I've been worried about an attack for a long time. I should have expected this. I was selfish, keeping you near me."**

"I'm not sure selfish is the right word choice, Sally." Chiron sympathized.

**"Keeping me near you? But—"**

**Another bellow of rage, and the bull-man started tromping uphill.**

**He'd smelled us.**

"What do demigods even smell like?" Piper asked, directing the question to Grover.

"Imagine the smell of exploded fireworks mixed with rotten cottage cheese and onions." Grover answered after a minute.

Piper's eyes widened in disgusted surprise. "That's what we smell like?"

Katie gagged. " I can only imagine what monsters smell like."

**The pine tree was only a few more yards, but the hill was getting steeper and slicker, and Grover wasn't getting any lighter.**

**The bull-man closed in. Another few seconds and he'd be on top of us.**

**My mother must've been exhausted, but she shouldered Grover. "Go, Percy! Separate! Remember what I said."**

**I didn't want to split up, but I had the feeling she was right—it was our only chance. I sprinted to the left, turned, and saw the creature bearing down on me. His black eyes glowed with hate. He reeked like rotten meat.**

"Sick," a Nemesis girl around six flinched.

**He lowered his head and charged, those razor-sharp horns aimed straight at my chest.**

**The fear in my stomach made me want to bolt, but that wouldn't work. I could never outrun this thing.**

**So I held my ground, and at the last moment, I jumped to the side.**

**The bull-man stormed past like a freight train, then bellowed with frustration and turned, but not toward me this time, toward my mother, who was setting Grover down in the grass.**

"Oh snap! Shits about to go down!" Conner said excited.

A 19 year old daughter of Iris named Christine Reynolds smacked Conner on the back of the head. "Conner! There are young kids here!" A smaller girl, maybe six or seven, sat frowning.

Conner felt himself drooling at how cute Christine looked. She had sandy blonde hair piled up in a bun on her head with stunning hazel eyes. Slowly, Conner turned toward the front, knowing he had a crush on the daughter of Iris.

**We'd reached the crest of the hill. Down the other side I could see a valley, just as my mother had said, and the lights of a farmhouse glowing yellow through the rain. But that was half a mile away. We'd never make it.**

**The bull-man grunted, pawing the ground. He kept eyeing my mother, who was now retreating slowly downhill, back toward the road, trying to lead the monster away from Grover.**

**"Run, Percy!" she told me. "I can't go any farther. Run!"**

**But I just stood there, frozen in fear, as the monster charged her. She tried to sidestep, as she'd told me to do, but the monster had learned his lesson. His hand shot out and grabbed her by the neck as she tried to get away. He lifted her as she struggled, kicking and pummeling the air.**

**"Mom!"**

**She caught my eyes, managed to choke out one last word: "Go!"**

"OMG! That's is soooo sad!" An Aphrodite girl cooed sadly.

**Then, with an angry roar, the monster closed his fists around my mother's neck, and she dissolved before my eyes, melting into light, a shimmering golden form, as if she were a holographic projection. A blinding flash, and she was simply ... gone.**

**"No!"**

**Anger replaced my fear. Newfound strength burned in my limbs—the same rush of energy I'd gotten when Mrs. Dodds grew talons.**

**The bull-man bore down on Grover, who lay helpless in the grass. The monster hunched over, snuffling my best friend, as if he were about to lift Grover up and make him dissolve too.**

**I couldn't allow that.**

**I stripped off my red rain jacket.**

**"Hey!" I screamed, waving the jacket, running to one side of the monster. "Hey, stupid! Ground beef!"**

"You're insults kind of suck." Travis said.

"Hey. They were effective." Percy retorted

**"Raaaarrrrr!" The monster turned toward me, shaking his meaty fists.**

**I had an idea—a stupid idea, but better than no idea at all.**

**I put my back to the big pine tree and waved my red jacket in front of the bull-man, thinking I'd jump out of the way at the last moment.**

**But it didn't happen like that.**

**The bull-man charged too fast, his arms out to grab me whichever way I tried to dodge.**

**Time slowed down.**

**My legs tensed. I couldn't jump sideways, so I leaped straight up, kicking off from the creature's head, using it as a springboard, turning in midair, and landing on his neck.**

**How did I do that?**

"Ahh. Reflexes."Leo said sarcastically in a breathy tone.

**I didn't have time to figure it out. A millisecond later, the monster's head slammed into the tree and the impact nearly knocked my teeth out.**

**The bull-man staggered around, trying to shake me. I locked my arms around his horns to keep from being thrown. Thunder and lightning were still going strong. The rain was in my eyes. The smell of rotten meat burned my nostrils.**

**The monster shook himself around and bucked like a rodeo bull. He should have just backed up into the tree and smashed me flat, but I was starting to realize that this thing had only one gear: forward.**

**Meanwhile, Grover started groaning in the grass. I wanted to yell at him to shut up, but the way I was getting tossed around, if I opened my mouth I'd bite my own tongue off.**

"Haha! Shut up!" A son of Nemesis laughed.

**"Food!" Grover moaned.**

**The bull-man wheeled toward him, pawed the ground again, and got ready to charge. I thought about how he had squeezed the life out of my mother, made her disappear in a flash of light,** **and rage filled me like high-octane fuel. I got both hands around one horn and I pulled backward with all my might. The monster tensed, gave a surprised grunt, then—**_**snap!**_

**The bull-man screamed and flung me through the air. I landed flat on my back in the grass. My head smacked against a rock. When I sat up, my vision was blurry, but I had a horn in my hands, a ragged bone weapon the size of a knife.**

**The monster charged.**

**Without thinking, I rolled to one side and came up kneeling. As the monster barreled past, I drove the broken horn straight into his side, right up under his furry rib cage.**

"I was really scared doing that." Percy admitted.

**The bull-man roared in agony. He flailed, clawing at his chest, then began to disintegrate—not like my mother, in a flash of golden light, but like crumbling sand, blown away in chunks by the wind, the same way Mrs. Dodds had burst apart.**

**The monster was gone.**

**The rain had stopped. The storm still rumbled, but only in the distance. I smelled like livestock and my knees were shaking. My head felt like it was splitting open. I was weak and scared and trembling with grief. I'd just seen my mother vanish. I wanted to lie down and cry, but there was Grover, needing my help, so I managed to haul him up and stagger down into the valley, toward the lights of the farm house. I was crying, calling for my mother, but I held on to Grover—I wasn't going to let him go.**

**The last thing I remember is collapsing on a wooden porch, looking up at a ceiling fan circling above me, moths flying around a yellow light, and the stern faces of a familiar-looking bearded man and a pretty girl, her blond hair curled like a princess's.**

**They both looked down at me, and the girl said, "He's the one. He must be."**

**"Silence, Annabeth," the man said. "He's still conscious. Bring him inside."**

"There I am!" Annabeth exclaimed. "I wanna read next!"

"Um. No. I am reading next Ms. Anniebell."


	6. Mr D Volunteers

**Chapter 5: Mr D Volunteers**

Hazel jumped, scared out of her wits. He hadn't been there a moment before, but _poof! _It was like the guy had materialized right behind her. Hazel hesitantly turned around to find Mr D, the director of Camp Half Blood. She had never seen Bachuus as his Greek equivalent, but she was begining to miss his Roman form. Dionysus held out a greasy hand. "For Olympus' sakes, girl! Give me the book!"

Hazel quickly handed the book to the plump god, and nervously scampered back to her spot between Frank and Nico on the stone bleachers. Chiron trotted over to where Dionysus was. "Mr. D! How are you? Haven't heard from you in a while."

Mr D fixed the lapels of his Hawaiian shirt. "My dear centaur, Father had an excellent feast going on Mount Olympus, and i couldn't just leave during a celebration. Besides, even though being the director of this awful place will be the end of my immortal life, i may as well take part in reliving Peter Johnson's difficult life."

Percy frowned. "Yeah, uh, Mr D? My names Percy Jackson." Percy sized up Mr D as the dreary immortal pinched his face at his comment. Dionysus was still round, with curly black hair. His eyes didn't look as intoxicated as usual, but that didn't mean anything. Purple running shoes, the same ones from the Titan War, were on his feet and he had on a Hawaiian tiger print shirt.

"Did i ask for your opinion, hero?" Mr D shot back.

"Percy, don't make him angry." Annabeth whispered, to her hard headed boyfriend.

Mr D used his right hand and flexed his fingers toward Annabeth. "Listen to your girlfriend Anniebell."

"Her name is Annabeth." Percy growled back defensively.

"Mr D, please, let's not make a big deal out of this." Chiron pleaded.

Mr D smacked his lips boredly. "I suppose i don't have to turn the boy into a dolphin. Then i would have to answer to Poseidon, and he wouldn't like that." Mr D snapped his fingers and a La-Z-Boy recliner poofed into existence right between him and Chiron.

Piper's jaw dropped. She had suffered on a lousy beach chair, and he got a massage chair?

Mr D flicked his gaze to Piper. "Tell you what. When you become a goddess, you can have your own massage chair. Get over it." Piper's face pinkened as she leaned closer to Jason for any form of protection. Jason wrapped an arm around her shoulder, and she tried to melt into his tender hold. Mr D snapped his fingers and a can of Diet Coke materialized in his right hand.

Annabeth heard a deep growl coming from Percy. He seemed to grow even more aggravated as he watched Mr D getting into a comfortable position on his recliner. She linked arms with Percy, and leaned her head against his shoulder. The growling stopped but he still had an annoyed expression.

Mr D drained the contents of his Coke, then began reading rather slowly.

**Chapter FIVE: I Play Pinochle With a Horse**

**I had weird dreams full of barnyard animals. Most of them wanted to kill me. The rest wanted food.**

"What kind of barnyard animals Percy?" Chris asked.

Percy shrugged, trying to look calmer than he felt. He brushed his hair to the side so that his sea green eyes weren't covered. "Probably a goat and a giraffe."

"A giraffe?" Liam, Luke's 12 year old look alike, asked. For being a Hermes kid, he didn't know how to take a joke.

Percy shook his head. "Don't worry about it, Liam."

** I must've woken up several times, but what I heard and saw made no sense, so I just passed out again. **

**I remember lying in a soft bed, being spoon-fed something that tasted like buttered popcorn, only it was pudding. The girl with curly blond hair hovered over me, smirking as she scraped drips off my chin with the spoon.**

"Annabeth!" Tyson cheered, pumping his fists in the air a few times.

"Annabeth, your hair isn't as curly as it used to be!" Katie pointed to Annabeth's tangled blonde ponytail.

Annabeth stroked her long hair. Over the past few years, her curls had just naturally straightened out, leaving the bottom just a little bit wavy.

"You still look great, Princess." Clarisse flashed Annabeth one of her rare smiles.

"Thanks, Clarisse." Annabeth knew that Clarisse was still a hard headed camper who was the daughter of Ares, but it was nice that they were able get past their differences and become friends...at least on some level.

**When she saw my eyes open, she asked, "What will happen at the summer solstice?"**

**I managed to croak, "What?"**

**She looked around, as if afraid someone would over hear. "What's going on? What was stolen? We've only got a few weeks!"**

**"I'm sorry," I mumbled, "I don't..."**

**Somebody knocked on the door, and the girl quickly filled my mouth with pudding.**

"Haha!"'Phoebe giggled to herself. "That's one way to shut a boy up!"

"Well, arnt you Hunters just rays of sunshine," Leo commented sarcastically.

"We don't all degrade the existence of boys." Thalia interjected. "I have way too many guy friends and a brother, so I could never hate them."

"Thalia," Leo reached over to grab Thalia's hands, but she yanked them away. "I understand that you have strong feelings for me..."

"What!?" Thalia exclaimed, laughing. "Never in a million years!"

"I think you're cute Leo!" A random girl shouted.

Leo looked around for the speaker. "Who said that?"

Rachel hung her head. "Leo, give it a rest will ya?"

"Oh, so it was you who said it?" Leo thrusted an index finger at Rachel accusingly.

Rachel raised an eyebrow. "Are you kidding me? No."

"Leo, just chill out." Jason stared at his friend, a little weirded out by how he had confronted Thalia.

Mr D rubbed his temples, clearly irritated. "Can all you teenagers just shut up for once?"

"Daddy, I'm not a teenager!" Eliza Marie shouted from beside her brother Pollux on the bleachers, with a mild English accent. She was about seven with curly black hair, purple glasses, and pudgy face that she had inherited from Dionysus.

Pollux wrapped an arm around his little sister. He had been the only Dionysus kid ever since Castor died at the Battle of the Labyrinth, but then Eliza Marie showed up from as far as New England about four months ago. Pollux had instantly took a liking to his sister and played the over-protective big brother.

"Oh, of course not darling. I meant all the annoying teenagers." Mr D apologized subtly. He stared at his children with such a sad, longing way, Percy almost felt sorry for him. Almost.

**The next time I woke up, the girl was gone.**

"What a heartbreaker." Christine joked.

Conner slowly turned around to face her. He had planned on saying that! What were the odds that an Iris girl could be beautiful, funny, and sarcastic?

Christine poked Conner's shoulder since he was staring at her like an idiot, not saying anything. "Umm...yeah. Can I help you?"

Conner made a weird sound.

Mr D coughed. He snapped his fingers and a new can of Coke folded into existence. "Calvin Still," he mispronounced Conner's name, " please stop drooling over Christine." Mr D didn't bother forgetting Christine's name— she was always looking out for Eliza Marie.

Christine blushed, burying her face into her auburn hair. Conner flashed a smile at her to hide his embarrassment, then turned around.

**A husky blond dude, like a surfer, stood in the corner of the bedroom keeping watch over me. He had blue eyes- at least a dozen of them- on his cheeks, his forehead, the backs of his hands.**

**When I finally came around for good****, there was nothing weird about my surroundings, except that they were nicer than I was used to. I was sitting in a deck chair on a huge porch, gazing across a meadow at green hills in the distance. The breeze smelled like strawberries. There was a blanket over my legs, a pillow behind my neck. All that was great, but my mouth felt like a scorpion had been using it for a nest. My tongue was dry and nasty and every one of my teeth hurt**.

"And way to ruin the image with your symptoms." Nico smirked at Percy.

Percy rolled his eyes.

**On the table next to me was a tall drink. It looked like iced apple juice, with a green straw and a paper parasol stuck through a maraschino cherry.**

**My hand was so weak I almost dropped the glass once I got my fingers around it.**

**"Careful," a familiar voice said.**

**Grover was leaning against the porch railing, looking like he hadn't slept in a week.**

"Actually, it was just two days." Grover clarified timidly. He didn't want Mr D to blast him for interrupting his reading.

**Under one arm, he cradled a shoe box. He was wearing blue jeans, Converse hi-tops and a bright orange T-shirt that said CAMP HALF-BLOOD. Just plain old Grover, not the goat boy.**

"Do I hear a song coming on?" An Apollo boy asked, strumming a lyre.

"No! So shut up!" Clarisse snapped at him. The boy put down his instrument.

**So maybe I'd had a nightmare. Maybe my mom was okay. We were still on vacation, and we'd stopped here at this big house for some reason. And...**

**"You saved my life," Grover said. "I... well, the least I could do ... I went back to the hill. I thought you might want this."**

**Reverently, he placed the shoe box in my lap.**

**Inside was a black-and-white bull's horn, the base jagged from being broken off, the tip splattered with dried blood. It hadn't been a nightmare.**

"Still have that on my wall in my cabin actually." Percy smiled proudly.

"Yeah, not like Piper, Hazel, and I had to clean your cabin for you a few days ago," Annabeth said, crossing her arms.

"Because you, Jason, Leo, and Frank had to go on a 'important quest that was no place for a girl.'" Hazel used air quotes around what type of mission it was.

"AKA a Yankees baseball game." Piper crossed her arms and smirked.

"And the three of us had to clean your guys' cabins otherwise the harpies would have eaten all your stuff." Annabeth resisted laughing at the uncomfortable expressions Jason, Percy, and Frank had. Leo was shrugging like it wasn't a big deal.

"Might I add, Jason and Percy's were the worst because no one else is apart of their cabin." Hazel added quickly, her face turning pink from trying not to laugh.

"Then Jason got back, and showed off the shield that he got from killing that Titan on Mount Tam to the whole camp." Piper looked at Jason who looked redder than a tomato.

"And Percy showed off his Minotaur horn, ironically, just yesterday after being lost under his bed for two years." Annabeth shared an amused look with Piper and Hazel.

"Okay! We're sorry!" Frank finally cracked. Hazel giggled and kissed him on the cheek.

"I'm sorry too." Jason leaned over and kissed Piper. Piper tried to stay mad but just couldn't find the rage.

"Forgive me, Wise Girl?" Percy asked, a cocky grin on his face.

"Are you kidding me, Seaweed Brain?" She grabbed his shirt and pulled him into a kiss.

Leo stood up, a perplexed look on his face. "What!? I want someone to forgive me!"

Grover crossed his left leg over his right. Maybe it wasn't a good idea to have given Percy that horn back.

**"The Minotaur," I said.**

**"Urm, Percy, it isn't a good idea-"**

**"That's what they call him in the Greek myths, isn't it?" I demanded. "The Minotaur. Half man, half bull."**

**Grover shifted uncomfortably. "You've been out for two days. How much do you remember?"**

**"My mom. Is she really ..."**

**He looked down.**

**I stared across the meadow. There were groves of trees, a winding stream, acres of strawberries spread out under the blue sky. The valley was surrounded by rolling hills, and the tallest one, directly in front of us, was the one with the huge pine tree on top. Even that looked beautiful in the sunlight.**

"Don't wanna spoil anything but," Travis pointed to Katie subtly, "Demeter's cabin keeps everything so purdy."

"And Thalia's pine tree." Nico included. He got a few surprised looks.

"You mean pretty?" Liam asked Travis.

Travis ignored his younger half-brother.

**My mother was gone. The whole world should be black and cold. Nothing should look beautiful.**

**"I'm sorry," Grover sniffled. "I'm a failure. I'm- I'm the worst satyr in the world."**

"NO you're not!" Everyone at camp exclaimed.

"Without you I wouldn't be alive." Percy told his goatman friend.

"Me too." Annabeth agreed.

"You kept men and Bianca safe from the manticore for nearly an entire semester." Nico told Grover.

"You helped keep me level headed when Dr Thorn tried turning me to the dark side." Thalia added.

"You never would have found Pan, if you were a failure." Tyson gave Grover a big hug.

Grover sniffled, tears forming in his eyes. "Thank you, Tyson. Thank you everybody. This means so much to me."

**He moaned, stomping his foot so hard it came off. I mean, the Converse hi-top came off. The inside was filled with Styrofoam, except for a hoof-shaped hole.**

**"Oh, Styx!" he mumbled.**

**Thunder rolled across the clear sky.**

**As he struggled to get his hoof back in the fake foot, I thought, Well, that settles it.**

**Grover was a satyr. I was ready to bet that if I shaved his curly brown hair, I'd find tiny horns on his head.**

**But I was too miserable to care that satyrs existed, or even minotaurs. All that meant was my mom really had been squeezed into nothingness, dissolved into yellow light.**

**I was alone. An orphan. I would have to live with ... Smelly Gabe?**

"Now that would be worse that being banished to the Underworld," Nico said, trying to give a visual.

Hazel winced. "And I know first hand. Up close and personal."

"Now that I think about it," Nico murmured. He nudged Percy to make sure he was listening. "I think Persephone has a statue in her garden that resembles Gabe."

Percy grinned. "She did turn him into a statue."

Nico grinned, assuming they reached an agreement.

Annabeth frowned. "But didn't she sell it to an avid collecter?"

"Oh yeah." Percy nodded, a little disappointed.

Nico shrugged. "I'll ask my dad about that. I was sure that it was Gabe."

**No. That would never happen. I would live on the streets first. I would pretend I was seventeen and join the army. I'd do something.**

**Grover was still sniffling. The poor kid- poor goat, satyr, whatever- looked as if he expected to be hit.**

**I said, "It wasn't your fault."**

**"Yes, it was. I was supposed to **_**protect **_**you."**

**"Did my mother ask you to protect me?"**

**"No. But that's my job. I'm a keeper. At least... I was."**

"Keeper? Forget that Lord of the Wild." Katie said to Grover. Grover grinned.

Mr D rubbed his eye. "Miss Gardner, no interruptions."

Katie snuggled closer to Travis. For whatever reason, Mr D never really did like her.

**"But why ..." I suddenly felt dizzy, my vision swimming.**

**"Don't strain yourself," Grover said. "Here." He helped me hold my glass and put the straw to my lips.**

**I recoiled at the taste, because I was expecting apple juice. It wasn't that at all. It was chocolate-chip cookies. Liquid cookies.**

**And not just any cookies- my mom's homemade blue chocolate-chip cookies, buttery and hot, with the chips still melting. Drinking it, my whole body felt warm and good, full of energy. My grief didn't go away, but I felt as if my mom had just brushed her hand against my cheek, given me a cookie the way she used to when I was small, and told me everything was going to be okay.**

"All that talk about cookies is making me hungry!" Piper moaned, resting her head against Jason.

"Me too." Frank second.

Clarisse's stomache rumbled really loudly and she tried hard not to blush.

"Oh my Hades! That sounded like Zeus' master bolt!" Chris chuckled. Clarisse smacked him on the back of the head.

Chiron nodded slowly. "Perhaps a lunch break after this chapter would be in order."

Mr D Sat up in his recliner. "What ever you say my centaur."

**Before I knew it, I'd drained the glass. I stared into it, sure I'd just had a warm drink, but the ice cubes hadn't even melted.**

**"Was it good?" Grover asked.**

**I nodded.**

**"What did it taste like?" He sounded so wistful, I felt guilty.**

**"Sorry," I said. "I should've let you taste."**

**His eyes got wide. "No! That's not what I meant. I just... wondered."**

"Yeah, don't want your best friend blasting into flames." Faith noted dryly. A few scattered chuckles echoed.

**"Chocolate-chip cookies," I said. "My mom's. Home made."**

**He sighed. "And how do you feel?"**

**"Like I could throw Nancy Bobofit a hundred yards."**

"I wish I had that ability on more than one occasion." Rachel scowled.

**"That's good," he said. "That's good. I don't think you could risk drinking any more of that stuff"**

**"What do you mean?"**

**He took the empty glass from me gingerly, as if it were dynamite, and set it back on the table. "Come on. Chiron and Mr. D are waiting."**

**The porch wrapped all the way around the farmhouse.**

**My legs felt wobbly, trying to walk that far. Grover offered to carry the Minotaur horn, but I held on to it. I'd paid for that souvenir the hard way. I wasn't going to let it go.**

**As we came around the opposite end of the house, I caught my breath.**

**We must've been on the north shore of Long Island, because on this side of the house, the valley marched all the way up to the water, which glittered about a mile in the distance. Between here and there, I simply couldn't process everything I was seeing. The landscape was dotted with buildings that looked like ancient Greek architecture: an open-air pavilion, an amphitheater, a circular arena; except that they all looked brand new, their white marble columns sparkling in the sun.**

Annabeth sighed dreamily at the architecture.

**In a nearby sandpit, a dozen high school-age kids and satyrs played volleyball. Canoes glided across a small lake. Kids in bright orange T-shirts like Grover's were chasing each other around a cluster of cabins nestled in the woods. Some shot targets at an archery range. Others rode horses down a wooded trail, and, unless I was hallucinating, some of their horses had wings.**

**Down at the end of the porch, two men sat across from each other at a card table. The blond-haired girl who'd spoon-fed me popcorn-flavored pudding was leaning on the porch rail next to them.**

Annabeth raised an eyebrow at Percy, wondering what he had thought about her the first time he saw her.

Percy felt nervous with everyone watching him expectantly, because he had no idea of what his first impression of Annabeth was. He kind of remembered something about drooling but that was about it.

**The man facing me was small, but porky. He had a red nose, big watery eyes, and curly hair so black it was almost purple. He looked like those paintings of baby angels- ****what do you call them, hubbubs? No, cherubs. That's it. He looked like a cherub who'd turned middle-aged in a trailer park.**

Mr D looked up from the book, fixing a glare on Percy. He muttered something in Greek, then frowned at the paper.

**He wore a tiger-pattern Hawaiian short, and he would've fit right in at one of Gabe's poker parties, except I got the feeling this guy could've out-gambled even my step father.**

"Take that as a compliment Mr D," Chiron said, trying to get Percy out of the predicament.

"I suppose."

**"That's Mr. D," Grover murmured to me. "He's the camp director. Be polite. The girl, that's Annabeth Chase. She's just a camper, but she's been here longer than just about anybody. And you already know Chiron..."**

**He pointed at the guy whose back was to me.**

**First, I realized he was sitting in the wheelchair. Then I recognized the tweed jacket, the thinning brown hair, the scraggly beard.**

**"Mr. Brunner!" I cried.**

**The Latin teacher turned and smiled at me. His eyes had that mischievous glint they sometimes got in class when he pulled a pop quiz and made all the multiple choice answers **_**B**_**.**

"I really loved handing out those quizzes." Chiron smiled.

"I loved acing those quizzes. Made me feel smart for once." Percy noted.

**"Ah, good, Percy," he said. "Now we have four for pinochle."**

**He offered me a chair to the right of Mr. D, who looked at me with bloodshot eyes and heaved a great sigh. "Oh, I suppose I must say it. Welcome to Camp Half-Blood. There. Now, don't expect me to be glad to see you."**

" I am pretty sure that's what he said that to me on my first day." Ryan noted.

"Me too." Faith agreed.

"Um. Yah." The Stolls said together.

"He said it to me too." Katie said.

Annabeth opened her mouth, but Mr D cut to the chase. "Let's assume I have greeted each of you the same way, because it's true."

Eliza made a move to protest, but Pollux grabbed her hand signaling her to stay quiet.

**"Uh, thanks." I scooted a little farther away from him because, **_**if **_**there was one thing I had learned from living with Gabe, it was how to tell when an adult has been hitting the happy juice. If Mr. D was a stranger to alcohol, I was a satyr.**

"For that comment, I should turn you into a satyr." Mr D grumbled. The campers held their breath

Percy closed his eyes, expecting to be transformed into a satyr. After a moment, he looked at his feet, relieved that he didn't have hooves. Or furry legs for that matter. That would have been awkward, having furry legs and human feet or human legs and goat hooves. Percy used the ancient Greek sign that warded off evil.

**"Annabeth?" Mr. Brunner called to the blond girl.**

**She came forward and Mr. Brunner introduced us. "This young lady nursed you back to health, Percy. Annabeth, my dear, why don't you go check on Percy's bunk? We'll be putting him in cabin eleven for now."**

Thalia smiled, a glint in her blue eyes. "Awee! Annabeth! You nursed Percy back to health?"

"How adorable!" Lacy squealed in delight.

Annabeth flushed. "Chiron had asked me to. Besides, he was my ticket to going on a quest."

"I'm so glad that that was how you interpreted my friendship." Percy rolled his eyes with a sarcastic smirk. Annabeth pinched his arm.

**Annabeth said, "Sure, Chiron."**

**She was probably my age, maybe a couple of inches taller, and a whole lot more athletic looking. With her deep tan and her curly blond hair, she was almost exactly what I thought a stereotypical California girl would look like, **

"California girl?" Annabeth asked Percy, a smile tugging at her lips.

"I'm sorry if that offends you. I was twelve." Percy responded sheepishly.

"I wouldn't understand why Annabeth would be offended." Leo interrupted. "California girls are hot!"

"Wow, Leo," a voice behind him said harshly.

Leo turned around slowly. There in front of him was his Roman girlfriend, Reyna. Her dark hair was braided down her right side and she had on golden bracelets. She was wearing a purple SPQR t-shirt and Jean shorts cut off at the knees. "Hey, babe."

Reyna looked unamused, arms folded across her chest. "California girls, huh?"

"But you're a California girl." Leo tried. He moved to the left, making room for Reyna between Jason and him.

Jason mentally punched Leo for positioning him between Piper, his real girlfriend, and Reyna, the girl who had a major crush on him for awhile.

"Hi Reyna." Annabeth greeted her. She wasn't best of friends with her, but they got along.

Reyna nodded her head respectively. "Annabeth. Piper." She smiled at Percy and Jason. Then she rested her head on Leo's shoulder. "I'm still mad."

"I love you, too, Roman." Leo answered, eyes fixated on Mr D. reading.

**except her eyes ruined the image. They were startling gray, like storm clouds; pretty, but intimidating, too, as if she were analyzing the best way to take me down in a fight.**

"She probably was." Jason guessed. He felt really awkward between Piper and Reyna. Out of the corner of his eyes, he could make out that Piper was watching Reyna.

**She glanced at the minotaur horn in my hands, then back at me. I imagined she was going to say, **_**You killed a minotaur! **_**or **_**Wow, you're so awesome! **_**or something like that.**

**Instead she said, "You drool when you sleep."**

The camp exploded with laughter. Percy laughed along with them. "I cannot believe you said that to me."

Annabeth shrugged. "I speak the truth."

"He still drools." Hazel giggled to Frank, who already knew that. They had been on that little row boat together for the longest of time.

**Then she sprinted off down the lawn, her blond hair flying behind her.**

"You seemed very focused on the blondeness of her hair," Conner mused.

"Got a problem with blondes, Stoll?" Jason asked, turning around.

Conner rolled his eyes. "Of course not, Captain Jason."

**"So," I said, anxious to change the subject. "You, uh, work here, Mr. Brunner?"**

**"Not Mr. Brunner," the ex-Mr. Brunner said. "I'm afraid that was a pseudonym. You may call me Chiron."**

**"Okay." Totally confused, I looked at the director. "And Mr. D ... does that stand for something?"**

**Mr. D stopped shuffling the cards. He looked at me like I'd just belched loudly. ****"Young man, names are powerful things. You don't just go around using them for no reason."**

**"Oh. Right. Sorry."**

**"I must say, Percy," Chiron-Brunner broke in, "I'm glad to see you alive. It's been a long time since I've made a house call to a potential camper. I'd hate to think I've wasted my time."**

**"House call?"**

**"My year at Yancy Academy, to instruct you. We have satyrs at most schools, of course, keeping a lookout. But Grover alerted me as soon as he met you. He sensed you were something special, so I decided to come upstate. I convinced the other Latin teacher to ... ah, take a leave of absence."**

"Leave of absence?" Reyna repeated coldly. "What did you do to her?"

"Him," Chiron corrected, "and I just manipulated the Mist so that he wanted to study Japanese. So he moved to Japan, although that was his choice."

"He moved to Japan," Liam rephrased.

"Indeed."

"I wanna go to Japan! What does Percy's old Latin teacher get to go to Japan and I don't?" Leo complained dramatically.

"Because you already got to go to Rome and Greece." Clarence, an older brother of Leo snapped

**I tried to remember the beginning of the school year. It seemed like so long ago, but I did have a fuzzy memory of there being another Latin teacher my first week at Yancy. Then, without explanation, he had disappeared and Mr. Brunner had taken the class.**

**"You came to Yancy just to teach me?" I asked.**

**Chiron nodded. "Honestly, I wasn't sure about you at first. We contacted your mother, let her know we were keeping an eye on you in case you were ready for Camp Half-Blood. But you still had so much to learn. Nevertheless, you made it here alive, and that's always the first test."**

**"Grover," Mr. D said impatiently, "are you playing or not?"**

**"Yes, sir!" Grover trembled as he took the fourth chair, though I didn't know why he should be so afraid of a pudgy little man in a tiger-print Hawaiian shirt.**

**"You **_**do **_**know how to play pinochle?" Mr. D eyed me suspiciously.**

**"I'm afraid not," I said.**

**"I'm afraid not, **_**sir**_**," he said.**

**"Sir," I repeated. I was liking the camp director less and less.**

Percy winced, knowing that he was pushing his luck with Mr D. Why did he have to volunteer for this chapter? He must have known what was coming.

**"Well," he told me, "it is, along with gladiator fighting and Pac-Man, one of the greatest games ever invented by humans. I would expect all **_**civilized **_**young men to know the rules."**

"I still don't know how to play." Malcolm sulked.

"An uncivilized son of Athena?" Chris acted astounded. "Someone call the FDA."

Thalia blinked, unfamiliar with the acronym. "FDA?"

Chris shrugged. "I don't know but it sounded good."

**"I'm sure the boy can learn," Chiron said.**

**"Please," I said, "what is this place? What am I doing here? Mr. Brun-Chiron, why would you go to Yancy Academy just to teach me?"**

**Mr. D snorted. "I asked the same question."**

**The camp director dealt the cards. Grover flinched every time one landed in his pile.**

**Chiron smiled at me sympathetically, the way he used to in Latin class, as if to let me know that no matter what my average was, **_**I **_**was his star student. He expected **_**me **_**to have the right answer.**

**"Percy," he said. "Did your mother tell you nothing?'**

**"She said ..." I remembered her sad eyes, looking out over the sea. "She told me she was afraid to send me here, even though my father had wanted her to. She said that once I was here, I probably couldn't leave. She wanted to keep me close to her."**

**"Typical," Mr. D said. "That's how they usually get killed. Young man, are you bidding or not?"**

**"What?" I asked.**

**He explained, impatiently, how you bid in pinochle, and so I did.**

**"I'm afraid there's too much to tell," Chiron said. "I'm afraid our usual orientation film won't be sufficient."**

"I remember that film!" Nico exclaimed. "Why did I have to watch that film and Percy didn't? A manticore was after me and Bianca!"

Nico grumbled to himself when everyone ignored him.

**"Orientation film?" I asked.**

**"No," Chiron decided. "Well, Percy. You know your friend Grover is a satyr. You know-" he pointed to the horn in the shoe box- "that you have killed the Minotaur. No small feat, either, lad. What you may not know is that great powers are at work in your life. Gods- the forces you call the Greek gods- are very much alive."**

**I stared at the others around the table.**

**I waited for somebody to yell, **_**Not! **_**But all I got was Mr. D yelling, "Oh, a royal marriage. Trick! Trick!" He cackled as he tallied up his points.**

**"Mr. D," Grover asked timidly, "if you're not going to eat it, could I have your Diet Coke can?"**

**"Eh? Oh, all right."**

**Grover bit a huge shard out of the empty aluminum can and chewed it mournfully.**

**"Wait," I told Chiron. "You're telling me there's such a thing as God."**

**"Well, now," Chiron said. "God- capital **_**G**_**, God. That's a different matter altogether. We shan't deal with the metaphysical."**

**"Metaphysical? But you were just talking about-"**

**"Ah, gods, plural, as in, great beings that control the forces of nature and human endeavors: the immortal gods of Olympus. That's a smaller matter."**

**"Smaller?"**

**"Yes, quite. The gods we discussed in Latin class."**

**"Zeus," I said. "Hera. Apollo. You mean them." ****And there it was again, distant thunder on a cloud less day.**

**"Young man," said Mr. D, "I would really be less casual about throwing those names around, if I were you."**

**"But they're stories," I said. "They're- myths, to explain lightning and the seasons and stuff. They're what people believed before there was science."**

"Science!" A good portion of Athena campers scoffed.

**"Science!" Mr. D scoffed. "And tell me, Perseus Jackson"-I flinched when he said my real name, which I never told anybody- "what will people think of your 'science' two thousand years from now?" Mr. D continued. "Hmm? They will call it primitive mumbo jumbo. That's what. Oh, I love mortals- they have absolutely no sense of perspective. They think they've come **_**so-o-o **_**far. And have they, Chiron? Look at this boy and tell me."**

**I wasn't liking Mr. D much, but there was something about the way he called me mortal, as if... he wasn't.**

**It was enough to put a lump in my throat, to suggest why Grover was dutifully minding his cards, chewing his soda can, and keeping his mouth shut.**

**"Percy," Chiron said, "you may choose to believe or not, but the fact is that **_**immortal **_**means immortal. Can you imagine that for a moment, never dying? Never fading? Existing, just as you are, for all time?"**

"You just read his mind, didn't you?" Eliza Marie asked in awe.

"Merely read his expression, dear girl." Chiron answered.

**I was about to answer, off the top of my head, that it sounded like a pretty good deal, but the tone of Chiron's voice made me hesitate.**

"Ironic since you turned down the offer to become immortal." Faith said.

**"You mean, whether people believed in you or not," I said.**

**"Exactly," Chiron agreed. "If you were a god, how would you like being called a myth, an old story to explain lightning? ****What if I told you, Perseus Jackson, that some day people would call **_**you **_**a myth, just created to explain how little boys can get over losing their mothers?"**

**My heart pounded. He was trying to make me angry for some reason, but I wasn't going to let him. I said, "I wouldn't like it. But I don't believe in gods."**

**"Oh, you'd better," Mr. D murmured. "Before one of them incinerates you."**

**Grover said, "P-please, sir. He's just lost his mother. He's in shock."**

**"A lucky thing, too," Mr. D grumbled, playing a card. "Bad enough I'm confined to this miserable job, working with boys who don't even believe.'"**

**He waved his hand and a goblet appeared on the table, as if the sunlight had bent, momentarily, and woven the air into glass. The goblet filled itself with red wine.**

**My jaw dropped, but Chiron hardly looked up. ****"Mr. D," he warned, "your restrictions."**

**Mr. D looked at the wine and feigned surprise. ****"Dear me." He looked at the sky and yelled, "Old habits! Sorry!"**

**More thunder.**

**Mr. D waved his hand again, and the wineglass changed into a fresh can of Diet Coke. He sighed unhappily, popped the top of the soda, and went back to his card game.**

"Sounds good." Mr D waved his hand and another Coke can materialized. He tossed the other empty can to Grover, who bit a large chunk out of the aluminum.

**Chiron winked at me. "Mr. D offended his father a while back, took a fancy to a wood nymph who had been declared off-limits."**

**"A wood nymph," I repeated, still staring at the Diet Coke can like it was from outer space.**

**"Yes," Mr. D confessed. "Father loves to punish me. ****The first time, Prohibition. Ghastly! Absolutely horrid ten years! The second time- well, she really was pretty, and I couldn't stay away- the second time, he sent me here. Half-Blood Hill. Summer camp for brats like you. 'Be a better influence,' he told me. 'Work with youths rather than tearing them down.' Ha.' Absolutely unfair."**

"But you're married." Rachel pointed out weakly.

Dionysus glared at her.

**Mr. D sounded about six years old, like a pouting little kid.**

**"And ..." I stammered, "your father is ..."**

_**"Di immortales, **_**Chiron," Mr. D said. "I thought you taught this boy the basics. My father is Zeus, of course."**

**I ran through D names from Greek mythology. Wine. The skin of a tiger. The satyrs that all seemed to work here. The way Grover cringed, as if Mr. D were his master.**

**"You're Dionysus," I said. "The god of wine."**

"Much better than being called that 'wine dude' like Nicho do Anglo called me." Mr D ran a hand through his curly black hair.

"It's Nico!" Nico growled annoyed. "Nico di Angelo."

**Mr. D rolled his eyes. "What do they say, these days, Grover? Do the children say, 'Well, duh!'?"**

**"Y-yes, Mr. D."**

**"Then, well, duh! Percy Jackson. Did you think I was Aphrodite, perhaps?"**

**"You're a god."**

**"Yes, child."**

**"A god. You."**

**He turned to look at me straight on, and I saw a kind of purplish fire in his eyes, a hint that this whiny, plump little man was only showing me the tiniest bit of his true nature. I saw visions of grape vines choking unbelievers to death, drunken warriors insane with battle lust, sailors screaming as their hands turned to flippers, their faces elongating into dolphin snouts. I knew that if I pushed him, Mr. D would show me worse things. He would plant a disease in my brain that would leave me wearing a strait-jacket in a rubber room for the rest of my life**.

"Those symptoms have helped to our advantage a few times." Reyna said. She was told the story of when Baachus helped Piper, Jason, and Percy rescue Nico from those giants.

**"Would you like to test me, child?" he said quietly.**

**"No. No, sir."**

**The fire died a little. He turned back to his card game. "I believe I win."**

**"Not quite, Mr. D," Chiron said. He set down a straight, tallied the points, and said, "The game goes to me."**

**I thought Mr. D was going to vaporize Chiron right out of his wheelchair, but he just sighed through his nose, as if he were used to being beaten by the Latin teacher. He got up, and Grover rose, too.**

**"I'm tired," Mr. D said. "I believe I'll take a nap before the sing-along tonight. But first, Grover, we need to talk, **_**again, **_**about your less-than-perfect performance on this assignment."**

**Grover's face beaded with sweat. "Y-yes, sir."**

**Mr. D turned to me. "Cabin eleven, Percy Jackson. And mind your manners."**

"That was like one of the last times you said my name correctly." Percy muttered towards Mr D.

**He swept into the farmhouse, Grover following miserably.**

**"Will Grover be okay?" I asked Chiron.**

**Chiron nodded, though he looked a bit troubled. "Old Dionysus isn't really mad. He just hates his job. ****He's been ... ah, grounded, I guess you would say, and he can't stand waiting another century before he's allowed to go back to Olympus."**

**"Mount Olympus," I said. "You're telling me there really is a palace there?"**

**"Well now, there's Mount Olympus in Greece. And then there's the home of the gods, the convergence point of their powers, which did indeed used to be on Mount Olympus. It's still called Mount Olympus, out of respect to the old ways, but the palace moves, Percy, just as the gods do."**

**"You mean the Greek gods are here? Like ... in **_**America**_**?"**

**"Well, certainly. The gods move with the heart of the West."**

**"The what?"**

**"Come now, Percy. What you call 'Western civilization.' Do you think it's just an abstract concept? No, it's a living force. A collective consciousness that has burned bright for thousands of years. The gods are part of it. You might even say they are the source of it, or at least, they are tied so tightly to it that they couldn't possibly fade, not unless all of Western civilization were obliterated. The fire started in Greece. Then, as you well know- or as I hope you know, since you passed my course- the heart of the fire moved to Rome, and so did the gods. Oh, different names, perhaps- Jupiter for Zeus, Venus for Aphrodite, and so on- but the same forces, the same gods."**

"Jupiter!" Jason called out proudly.

"Don't get big headed Jason." Piper smiled, kissing his cheek.

"Yeah Blondy." Thalia joked.

**"And then they died."**

**"Died? No. Did the West die? The gods simply moved, to Germany, to France, to Spain, for a while. Wherever the flame was brightest, the gods were there. They spent several centuries in England. All you need to do is look at the architecture."**

"That is very true!" Annabeth praised, her grey eyes lighting up. "Architectural monuments found everywhere structurally follow the way Greeks built. Like the capitol building-"

"Annabeth, we understand. Breath!" Ryan tried calming his sister.

**People do not forget the gods. Every place they've ruled, for the last three thousand years, you can see them in paintings, in statues, on the most important buildings. And yes, Percy, of course they are now in your United States. Look at your symbol, the eagle of Zeus. Look at the statue of Prometheus in Rockefeller Center, the Greek facades of your government buildings in Washington. I defy you to find any American city where the Olympians are not prominently displayed in multiple places. Like it or not- and believe me, plenty of people weren't very fond of Rome, either- America is now the heart of the flame. It is the great power of the West. And so Olympus is here. And we are here."**

**It was all too much, especially the fact that **_**I **_**seemed to be included in Chiron's **_**we, **_**as if I were part of some club.**

**"Who are you, Chiron? Who ... who am I?"**

**Chiron smiled. He shifted his weight as if he were going to get up out of his wheelchair, but I knew that was impossible. He was paralyzed from the waist down.**

**"Who are you?" he mused. "Well, that's the question we all want answered, isn't it? But for now, we should get you a bunk in cabin eleven. There will be new friends to meet. And plenty of time for lessons tomorrow. Besides, there will be s'mores at the campfire tonight, and I simply adore chocolate."**

**And then he did rise from his wheelchair. But there was something odd about the way he did it. His blanket fell away from his legs, but the legs didn't move. His waist kept getting longer, rising above his belt. At first, I thought he was wearing very long, white velvet underwear, but as he kept rising out of the chair, taller than any man, I realized that the velvet underwear wasn't underwear; it was the front of an animal, muscle and sinew under coarse white fur. And the wheelchair wasn't a chair. It was some kind of container, an enormous box on wheels, and it must've been magic, because there's no way it could've held all of him. A leg came out, long and knobby-kneed, with a huge polished hoof. Then another front leg, then hindquarters, and then the box was empty, nothing but a metal shell with a couple of fake human legs attached.**

**I stared at the horse who had just sprung from the wheelchair: a huge white stallion. But where its neck should be was the upper body of my Latin teacher, smoothly grafted to the horse's trunk.**

**"What a relief," the centaur said. "I'd been cooped up in there so long, my fetlocks had fallen asleep. Now, come, Percy Jackson. Let's meet the other campers."**

Mr D slammed the book shut, tossing it underhand to Chiron, who caught it effortlessly. He climbed out of the recliner, pudgy belly flopping. Snapping his fingers, the chair folded out of existence. "Chiron, I'm going to take a nap."

Dionysus glared at the campers before waddling toward the Big House.

Chiron folded his arms, watching his campers move around, getting restless. "All right. We'll take a lunch break, then continue reading. Since this is a special occasion, no table restrictions. Go to lunch."

Percy stood up and stretched. Extending a hand to Annabeth, he pulled her to her feet. "Ready for lunch my lady?"

Annabeth smirked. "Lead away, Seaweed Brain."

* * *

**Yippee! Another chapter done! Remember what I said about school? Yeah, I've been getting bombed with homework so updates might be stretched over a 2-3 day increments. But honestly I'll update faster if you review. I seem to get sudden jolts of inspiration. So if you have favorited, followed, or just like it, it would mean alot to me to review.**

**Also, dear guest, **

**Yes, I am definitely going to finish this. I hate it when someone starts something and doesn't finish. I plan on finishing the whole series. Not sure about Heroes of Olympus.**

**AngiediAngelo- awesome pen name and nope. Don't have wattpad**

**ROC95- thank you for being a dedicated follower since the beginning :)**

**-PFG out**


	7. What Goes Down at a Demigod Picnic?

**Hello. Sorry for not updating in a few days but I decided to update a different story of mine that I have been neglecting and I was going to start this chapter yesterday but my sister swiped the kindle.**

**Btw: Faith in this story is me as a demigod (my personality and description). Nico is one of my favorite characters and I want him to like me. (Get over it.) And I want to have a sisterly relationship with all my other favorite characters (which is a majority of the characters) Ryan is my real boyfriend. Just some clarification.**

**I also add alot of references to books, movies, news, tv shows, etc that either apply to me or I just find as humorous and put it in the point of few of the characters just to give it a little more modern feel. That and it's just more fun to read if you can relate to it easier. ~Funner!~**

**-funner isn't a real word! *scolds myself***

**-crap I'm talking to myself. When do I know I'm crazy enough to be accepted to the mental institute?**

**-when you start having a pointless conversation with yourself**

**-Go away me!**

**-Oh my Hades, you're freaking me out, me**

**-leave me alone! I have powerful friends!**

**- so do I. After all, I'm you**

**-this can't be good**

**Thus I need medical attention. I need my Apollo siblings to give me a check up...**

**Also, if you have an OC you'd like mentioned in this, just send me the names, godly parent, and description and I'll put the first 15 or so in there. :)**

**Okay. I'm done. Long author note.**

* * *

**Lunch break: What Goes Down at a Demigod Picnic?**

Annabeth pulled the green ponytail band out of her hair allowing her wavy blond tresses to cascade down her back. She ran a hand through her hair and nearly grimaced. She was in need of a shower, but with all the excitement about Thalia, the Hunters, and the strange books, she just hadn't had enough time that morning.

As she walked, Annabeth weaved her oily hair into a Greek braid the way Piper showed her. (Piper had gotten good at braiding an unbraiding because of Aphrodite's frequent ' blessings.') Percy was off to her right, abnormally quiet. His sea green eyes made his black hair darker and his expression was one she rarely saw - deep in thought.

"Hey, you okay?" She asked him. They were about 50 yards from the dining pavilion.

Percy released a deep sigh. "Yeah. I'm alright."

The two walked in silence a few steps. "You wanna talk about it?" Annabeth asked again. She felt Percy looking at her, but she kept her attention forward. Already a large crowd of campers were piling food onto their plates. Wood nymphs were passing around platters of different lunch meals and the daughter of Athena couldn't help but figure Juniper's sisters get quite the work out.

Percy was quiet for a second, fixing his gaze on the mess hall. They were closer now. "It's just...weird. How does someone fill a book series with all of my personal thoughts? I'm pretty sure that I didn't tell anyone every single thought I had."

Annabeth nodded slowly, scenarios running through her mind. She had been wondering the same thing. Nothing she had come up with yet had seemed logical, yet here they were, taking a break from reading the Percy Jackson series. Her mind was whirring so fast she didn't realize that Percy had taken her hand in his.

When the two got to the dining pavilion, table 1, Zeus' table, was packed with all of Percy's closest friends. Food was scattered across the table as their buddies went back and forth between chatting and scarfing down lunch.

Nico, Hazel, Frank, Tyson, Chris, Clarisse, and Rachel sat on one side of the picnic table while Jason, Piper, Leo, Reyna, Travis, Katie, Grover, and Thalia sat on the other side. Two spots to the right of Thalia was reserved for Annabeth and Percy. Conner was not there.

"They probably already did their sacrifice." Percy mumbled to Annabeth. He grabbed a pair of magic goblets and plates for himself and Annabeth. He handed one of each to her. "Lets just grab some grub, toss some to the fire, then join up with Leo, Thalia, Grover, and all those guys."

Annabeth nodded. "Sounds like a decent idea, Seaweed Brain." She politely accepted a chicken sandwich from a nymph along with a cup of pudding and a banana.

Percy snatched a slice of Hawaiian pizza off of a serving platter. Then he added a small container of Pringles. He waited until he was seated to fill up his cup. Percy and Annabeth walked to the sacrificial fire in the center of the pavilion.

Percy tossed in the biggest chunk of pineapple from his pizza. "Poseidon." He mumbled under his breath.

Annabeth inhaled the sweet smell of the fire, then threw the entire pudding cup in. "Athena." The smell of vanilla, the flavor of the pudding, wafted into her lungs. Athena's favorite anything was always vanilla.

Annabeth smiled as she followed Percy to Table 1, where she sat with Thalia to her left and Percy on the right. Even though this was the first time in months since she had eaten with all her friends like this, it felt calming and familiar. Even Faith screaming at her annoying half sister Riva while Annabeth's brother, Ryan, held her back, brought a smile to her lips. If she turned around, she could easily see the Apollo head counselor, (Faith took over when Will went to college. Then got married.) and Riva fighting about who was Apollo's favorite daughter. _Which would easily be Faith over Riva_, Annabeth thought.

"Blue Rasberry kool aid." Percy said, his cup filling with blue liquid.

Tyson clapped his hands. "Blue kool aid!" He repeated. His cup filled with the same drink and Tyson chugged it down in a second flat.

"Whoa, dude." Chris gave a crooked smile. "Don't you have to pee?"

Tyson's eyes widened and he nodded. "Yes. Go pee now." He got up quickly and ran toward the bathroom stalls.

"TMI!" Leo called after him, but Tyson was already outta the ballpark.

"I don't think he heard you." Thalia used a pair chopsticks to eat her Thai food - sticky noodles, green veggies, and rice all drenched in soy sauce. "Maybe you should scream louder." She joked.

Leo shrugged, cupping his hands around his mouth. "TYSON! TMI!"

Jason blinked repeatedly while sighing deeply. "Oy." He casually took a sip of his Pepsi to hide his slight annoyance.

"Leo, you're so literal." Hazel brought a fresh quasidea to her lips and took a hesitant bite. It burned her tongue and she instantly dropped it. "Hot!" Luckily, her cup was full of milk from eating vanilla wafers earlier so she downed the contents.

"You gonna pee too?" Chris asked. Clarisse smacked him on the back of the head.

Hazel scowled. "No. I'm not."

"You'll have to sooner or later." Travis pointed out. The son of Hermes was eating his favorite lunch ever - a banana split, extra rainbow sprinkles, with a can of Coke.

"Go pee that is." Leo clarified with a smirk. Reyna adverted her eyes from her annoying boyfriend that she would probably forgive shortly.

"No, really? I thought you meant-" Jason picked up on the humor. Percy tried drowning out his laughs with pizza. Nico was doubled over and laughing like a crazed kid - something he rarely ever did.

"Gods, boys are gross!" Katie cut off the comment. A gag like sound escaped the back of her throat.

The boys burst out laughing while the girls kind of pretended that they had no idea who those guys were, which was hard since most of the girls were dating someone sitting there. Only Grover wasn't laughing. He was munching on a granola bar, wrapper and all. He gestured to the laughing guys. "I apologize for all this."

"Not your fault Grover." Piper smiled weakly. Suddenly her guacamole and tortillas weren't looking so appetizing. Instead she took a swig of V8 Splash.

Rachel nodded, breathing slowly. "Yeah. Definitely not your fault, bro."

"Arnold Palmer." Annabeth whispered. Her goblet filled with the lemonade/iced tea.

Nico recovered from his fit of immature laughter. "What is that stuff anyway Annabeth?"

Annabeth pointed to her drink and Nico nodded. "It's green tea mixed with lemonade." She explained.

"Oh." He tipped his taco sideways and slid it into his mouth.

Tyson smiled with a sigh of relief as he plopped down beside Chris again. "Much better."

Frank opened his mouth to make a comment but Clarisse snapped, "No more of that!"

Frank rolled his eyes at his older half sister. Although she was technically a daughter of Ares while he was a son of Mars, he still had a high respect for his older sister, similar to how Hazel looked up to Nico. Instead, Frank emptied a packet of strawberry poprocks into his mouth.

"Don't be so hostile." Jason laughed half heartedly. He took a large chunk out of his hamburger, scarfing it down.

"Really. It reminds me of my old dam days." Percy grinned. His eyes locked on Thalia's blue ones and the two friends started laughing.

"Wait. What - oh. Now I get it!" Grover bleated a laughing sound. Shortly, Percy, Grover, and Thalia were gasping for breath.

"You've brought that up before." Piper remembered back to when the Argo II had just arrived in New Rome. "You said it was an inside joke."

"Oh it's definitely an inside joke." Katie noted, staring blankly.

"What's it about?" Hazel asked.

"Yeah. I wanna be on the inside of anything that makes Thalia laugh that hard." Jason smirked at his sister, genuinely glad she was having a good time.

"Me too. If Thalia is laughing, then it must be comedy gold." Leo agreed leaning forward.

Grover pulled on the collar of his jacket. "When we were on our way to the Garden of the Hesperides -"

"Zoe Nightshade's home." Thalia interjected, not wanting her friend to go unmentioned, although that wouldn't have been possible.

"- We had to take a detour to the Hoover Dam to escape some of Atlas's zombies."

"Atlas? As in-" Nico asked, but Percy held up a palm.

"Titan Atlas? Yus."

Nico nodded thoughtfully.

"Hoover Dam?" Annabeth coughed, nearly joking on the bit of chicken she was eating. Her grey eyes lit up. "Hoover Dam is one of my favorite architectural pieces!"

"We know. You should have seen Zoe's face when we all started spouting facts about the Hoover Dam." Grover slapped a furry knee and proceeded to chew on assorted wrappers.

"Not to be um... to pushy.. But uh, WHAT'S THE JOKE!" Travis complained dramatically. He leaned over the table, as if getting closer would reveal the secret humor.

"We're getting there Travis!" Thalia shout at him. "Oh my Zeus! You're worse than Jason was when we had to change his diaper!" She caught her brother blushing as snickers bounced around the table.

"Anyways, you all know how Zoe wasn't good with modern English?" Percy asked. Half the table said yes, the other half said no. Right. Percy, you idiot. "Well, she spoke old English."

"She was 2000 years old though." Grover came on her defense. Reyna gave a confused look. "Long stories."

"Well, when we see at the dam, she had said something like, 'we need to find the dam restraunt' but Grover started laughing 'cuz of it sounding like damn restraunt." Thalia explained, choking back giggles.

"Snack bar." Rachel corrected, remembering the story from hanging out with Percy over the summer. "It was damn snack bar!"

"That's right!" Grover and Percy exclaimed together before being consumed by another fit of laughter.

Leo, Travis, Chris, Clarisse, Nico, and Jason laughed hysterically right on the spot. It took Piper and Reyna a minute, but when they put two and two together, they cracked up too. Frank shrugged and took a swig of pink lemonade. Rachel and Annabeth shared a knowing look before laughing too. Katie tried stifling her giggles but was consumed just as easily. Tyson and Hazel shared blank looks, not understanding what the joke was.

"Do you know what was so funny?" Tyson whispered to Hazel.

Hazel shrugged. "Not a clue, Big Guy."

After the laughing subsided, an awkward silence ensued as a few leftover chuckles around the picnic table died down. Suddenly, Faith and Ryan's conversation about who the bigger nerd was, became louder. (A/N real conversation we had.)

Reyna stroked her Roman styled braid that matched her purple t-shirt and shorts rather elegantly as she snuggled up to Leo a bit. "Can someone explain to me what is with all the books? What's going on?"

Leo spooned some Cap n' Crunch into his mouth.

"Oh yeah!" Realization dawned on Travis that Reyna hadn't been there the entire time the book was being read. "You weren't here, were you?"

"Well duh!" Piper snorted. It was the girls' turn to choke on their laughter. Leo almost snorted cereal out of his nos from the stupidity of Travis. Demeter wouldn't be amused, unless she hated cereal that wasn't whole grain. He refrained from asking Katie because he didn't want to spoil Travis' Derf Moment.

"Looks like we got another candidate for the stupid awards!" Rachel kidded between spurts of laughter. The curly red haired Oracle stabbed at her apple pancakes, bringing an entire formula to her mouth. She chewed greedily, then drained her chocolate milk. Even though it was lunch, she didn't want to discriminate pancakes as 'breakfast foods.' She had read_ The Fault in Our Stars_and now had almost an entirely different aspect of life. (That was the book she, Hazel, Piper, and Annabeth stayed up chattering about the night before.) When Nico had asked her about it a few days ago, he only ended up even more confused.

Jason cleared his throat, his stomach heavy from laughing so hard after eating so much. It was a really good thing laughing wasn't poison. "Here's the deal Reyna."

Piper faltered a bit. She knew she shouldn't be jealous now that she was friends with Reyna. But when Jason said her name, Piper couldn't help but feel mildly envious. She leaned her head on his shoulder, making sure he wouldn't just disappear.

"Thalia," Jason said, gesturing to Thalia. Thalia smiled awkwardly. "My sister, Thalia, is a Hunter of Artemis. She was on a mission with Artemis on Circe's Island in the Sea of Monsters when she came across ten books labled Percy Jackson and the Olympians and The Heroes of Olympus."

"Holy crap, there were alot of names in that sentence." Katie commented.

Reyna perked up a bit. "Hunter of Artemis? The Greek equivalent to the Amazons."

"Yep. Thalia is the Lieutenant of Artemis if you're looking for specifics." Annabeth bragged, elbowing her friend in the side encouragingly.

"And she's just as badass as she looks." Clarisse added. She secretly wished that she looked more like Thalia. Tough and intimidating, but pretty too.

"It's not a big deal..." Thalia admitted modestly, playing with her chopsticks. She had finished her Thai food already.

Travis batted his eyes like a little girl. He modified his voice so it was much higher in pitch. "And sooo modest too!"

"Good job, Travis." Piper complimented. "But if you really want to sound like Drew, make your voice even higher."

Travis snickered. "Like this?" His voice went up higher.

"Perfect." Piper praised.

"That oddly sounded like Grover when he was in that wedding dress." Percy stroked an imaginary beard the same way Leo would.

Grover feigned a hurt expression. "Hurtful! I do not sound like Drew!"

"Ummm...I'm lost. What were we talking about?" Leo asked.

"Hunters and Amazons." Frank answered.

"At least you guys have cool Roman equivalents." Rachel directed toward a still blushing Thalia. "I'm stuck with Octavian. Creepo." That earned a few chuckles. "Panda stabbing freak."

"Yeah. He still owes me a panda pillow pet." Percy joked.

"Is that what that prophecy meant?" Rachel asked herself. She had one of those weird 'talk to yourself frown' on her face.

"What prophecy, Rach?" Annabeth asked her friend.

Rachel shook her head. "I don't remember. Something about Percy losing a stuffed panda."

"What's going to happen in the book next?" Hazel asked, popping a cookie into her mouth. She passed one to Tyson's extended fingers. He chomped on it noisly, but happily.

"I was wondering the same thing." Nico muttered in agreement.

Percy tried to hide a look of embarrassment. He had a feeling the next chapter involved Clarisse and toilets.

"If memory serves me..." Faith smirked, giving Rachel a hug from behind.

"Faith," Percy groaned miserably. Faith was three years younger, 15, so a little bit older than Nico. She, alongside Annabeth, was one of the campers who had been at camp longest. She, also alongside Annabeth, probably remembered that toilet fiasco. Even though Percy hadn't talked to the younger Apollo girl until after the Giant War, he quickly developed a sister/brother relationship with her. Plus her boyfriend, Ryan, was one of Annabeth's favorite brothers.

Faith smiled in her weird way that she did when trying to act silly. Then she got a little bit more serious. "Annabeth! I need help later."

"With what?" Annabeth asked, taking a sip of her drink.

"For Honors English, over the summer I have to write a bunch of poems -" she started.

"That has to suck." Leo said straightforward.

"Not helping, Leo." Reyna scolded through clenched teeth.

Faith rolled her eyes, smiling at Rachel then Thalia, Percy, and Annabeth. Annabeth been her friend from before, so she obviously became fast friends with Thalia and Percy. But because Rachel was the Oracle of her dad, Faith hung out and got along with Rachel a good part of the time. When she wasn't hanging out with Ryan, she was hanging out with Nico or Rachel. "Yeah. But s a child of Apollo, I'm like, cursed to write awful poetry."

"You write poetry before?" Frank asked.

Faith snorted. "Have you read my dad's haikus? I'm screwed."

"Sure. I'll help." Annabeth affirmed with a nod.

Faith grinned. "Fantastic." Suddenly her eyes widened. "Incoming." She muttered before rejoining her friends at the Athena Table.

"Incoming?" Nico repeated, eyes following the brunette Apollo girl. Although he hated to admit it, he kind of had a small crush on her. The way her eyes glowed with sarcasm and her hair was always either in sloppy ponytail or in a knotty bun on her head, got him tongue tied.

"That's what incoming means." Katie pointed to Conner who was walking towards them, grinning like an idiot.

Grover and Katie made room for Conner between them. "Any luck with Christine?" Piper asked.

Conner sighed dreamily - a clear indication that he was off his rocker. He never acted like that. He rubbed a red patch on his face. "She is so into me."

Thalia laughed. "She smacked you didn't she!"

"It is not nice to smack." Tyson told everyone.

"You're very right, Tyson." Percy answered his brother.

"Unless someone is being an idiotic moron." Clarisse amended.

"Oh yes. Certainly." Jason said sarcastically.

Grover chewed loudly on a bag of chips. "Wait. I'm confused. I thought Conner liked Amber Sims from Aphrodite."

"Nah. He likes Christine Reynolds. Iris girl." Annabeth answered fully confident.

"Dark hair, hazel eyes, perfect smile?" Leo clarified.

"Dats da one." Travis answered for his love sick brother.

Leo tightened his grip on Reyna. "She's cute." Reyna back handed Leo across the chest. Leo chuckled.

Rachel rolled her eyes. "Boys."

Chiron clamped his hooves in the center of the pavilion. He waited until he had everyone's undivided attention. Then he proceeded to clear his throat. "The reading will resume in the next five minutes. If you could - " the old centaur chuckled stroking his brown beard, not overly surprised that he didn't finish his sentence. The entire pavilion had vacated in 3 seconds flat, the arena full of enthusiastic campers ready to read.


	8. Clarisse and Reyna have war god parents

**Yay! Chapter update**

**Marc son of Hermes who belongs to _Skullkidxd._ **

* * *

**Chapter Six: Who else noticed both Clarisse and Reyna have war gods as parents?**

In almost three seconds flat, the entire dining pavilion was empty and campers were already filing back into the arena and filling up stone bleachers. Percy couldn't help but grin, since everyone wanted to read about him. Well, Annabeth and Grover too.

"I'll meet up with you guys in a few minutes. I have to check in on Mr D." Grover trotted off towards the Big House without waiting for any sort of acknowledgement.

"Okay. See you." Frank said, mainly to the rest of his friends since Grover was already gone.

Feeling lazy, Piper climbed up on Jason's back. "Give me a piggyback ride, Roman. I'm too tired to walk." Jason laughed, boosting her up so that she wasn't slipping.

"Calling him Roman, Piper? Little racist since you're Greek don't you think?" Leo asked, matching strides with Jason, while he held Reyna's hand.

"Ha ha!" Katie giggled. "That rhymed."

Tyson frowned for a second, then his expression brightened. "Oh yes! Greek and think do rhym!"

Piper rolled her eyes. "It's not racist, Leo, if the person finds it funny and a joke."

"I don't know why you would point that out Leo." Rachel smirked. She had tied her poofy red hair into a messy bun on her head.

Leo raised a skeptical brow. "And why is that?"

"Oh my Zeus, you are stupid!" Thalia picked at her dirty fingernails

"You're always referring to me as 'Roman' you hypocrite!" Reyna laughed, pointing at a perplexed Leo.

"You two are like an old married couple." Percy joked, draping an arm around Annabeth's neck.

Reyna and Leo gave blank expressions while Piper and Jason laughed.

"They're a married couple?" Tyson asked confused. Shouldn't you be older before to get married?"

"Yeah, Tyson." Travis answered. He was guiding Conner around a stump since he was still drooling in a love sick puppy way.

"Standard protocol." Hazel added, clinging to Frank's arm.

"I don't see why you're saying that they're the married couple when you and Annabeth fell asleep together on the Argo II." Frank grinned at how Annabeth and Percy started blushing. Their other friends snickered at the two love birds.

"Nothing happened. We just ell asleep talking." Annabeth retorted back defensively, fire returning to her grey eyes.

"Yeah, you sickos." Percy frowned although his tone suggested a light undertone like he was joking.

"Sorry bro." Leo grinned wickedly, eyes narrowing.

Reyna slapped his arm, an action she seemed to do alot. "Leo. Stop." She knew that he got carried away with his jokes, the same way he did when he would tease Frank.

"Why have I not heard this until now?" Thalia eyed the daughter of Athena and son of Poseidon suspiciously.

"Maybe because you're a Hunter and would have disapproved of them beintogether her like that." Jason suggested.

"uh, no." Thalia frowned at here brother.

Jason shrugged. "It was just a suggestion." Piper slid down Jason's back, landing on her feet.

"What is the next chapter going to be about?" Chris asked, slipping his hand into Clarisse's hand. Clarisse smiled with a blush on her cheeks.

Percy shrugged, trying to appear inconspicuous. "I have no idea." he lied.

"Travis! Conner!" Marc, a son of Hermes, called running up to his brothers. He had dirty blonde hair, hazel eyes, and looked about 15 years old. Rachel winced when he pushed passed her. Marc was notorious for pulling pranks with Travis and Conner and hdolce switched Rachel's bottle of water with a bottle of vinegar. That was nearly 2 years ago-she still hadn't forgiven him.

"Marc." Travis greeted, still leading Conner as he daydreamed. "What's up bro?"

Marc's eyes glinted the same way all Hermes kids do when they have something planned. "I came up with a brilliant prank, and I need your guys' help."

"Oh this is bad." Katie muttered, hiding her face in her hands.

"Alright dude. I wanna help." Leo smiled anxiously.

"Yeah. Tell us later tonight." Travis winked at Marc, signaling that he was in on the idea.

"Sweet." Marc smiled. His eyes drifted to Conner. "What's up with him?"

"He's smitten by an Iris girl." Nico had a bag of pretzels in one hand.

"Name?"

"Christine Reynolds." Annabeth said, her coloring finally returning back to normal.

"Brunette with the perfect smile?" Marc clarified.

"Thas the one." Piper confirmed.

Marc grinned. "She's cute."

"That's what I said!" Leo exclaimed cheekily.

"Leo, you're impossible!" Reyna huffed before releasing his hand and stomping toward the arena without him.

"Reyna!" Leo called, chasing after her. "Come on, babe! We can work this out."

"Well, he's in hot water." Percy muttered.

"Yes he is," Jason agreed nonchalantly.

Marc nodded, then ran off towards the arena. Rachel sighed, finally relizing that she had been holding her breath the entire time he ways talking to Travis. She rubbed her forehead, sighing a second time. "Let's go," she said a little less enthusiasticaly. "Let's read the next chapter."

"Cooleo Oracle girl." Travis gave a thumbs up, forgetting about Conner.

Conner stumbled over his own feet, landing face first in the dirt. Travis winced while everyone else went, "Ouch." Conner jumped to his feet, finally out of his heartstruck daze. "I DIDNT MEAN TO WET THE BED!"

"Wet the bed?" Nico asked, trying to with hold the laughs although it was no use. Everyone and Nico busted out laughing anyways for the millionth time that day.

Conner slapped his face, then popped an M&M into his mouth. "This is so not my day." Suddenly he spit out the M&M with a look of disgust. "DANG IT! I GRABBED THE FREAKIN PRETZEL ONES! I HATE THOSE!" Then he stomped off toward the bleachers grumbling, being followed by his snickering friends.

~.~.~.~.~.~

Hazel felt giddy with anticipation for the next chapter. So far, the book had been amazing even though Percy seemed a little embarressed by his past thoughts and opinions. No one held it against him anyways—everyone tried coming up with scenarios that explained what was really happening. Hazel herself had figured she was a mental patient on some medications when she first figured out she was a daughter of Pluto.

Frank urged her onto the stone bleachers where they had been seated recently. Everyone was pretty much back in their original spots, except Jason had switched with Piper so he was between Thalia and Piper instead of Reyna. Reyna and Piper were giggling about something while Leo was desperately trying to get Reyna to speak to him.

Grover joined back up with everyone in the arena, reclaiming his spot between Percy and Tyson.

Chiron clomped to the middle of the arena where the enchanted fire pit was empty now. Thalia's messenger bag was still slung over his torso, only he had changed out of his training armor and into a Camp Half-Blood t-shirt. _The Lightning Theif _was marked by an owl covered bookmark in his right hand. He waited patiently for a few minutes before getting everyone's attention. "I hope you all have had a satisfying lunch and that you're ready to procede with the reading."

"YES!" the campers chanted excitedly.

Chiron held up a palm, and the chanting ceased. Clearing his throat, Chiron assumed a comfortable stance and began reading the next chapter.

**Chapter 6: ****I Become Supreme Lord of the Bathroom**

"Oh shit." Clarisse muttered to herself. "I know where this is going."

"Me too." Percy groaned, hiding his face in the crook of his arm.

Annabeth snickered, but then remembered she got doused by toilet water.

**Once I got over the fact that my Latin teacher was a horse, **

"The politically correct term is centaur." Malcolm corrected.

"Hey! I was twelve." Percy replied defensivly. "In a state of shock mind you!"

"Sorry. Just trying to help." Malcolm did a Justin Beiber hair sweep.

"Malcolm, you're not Justin Beiber." Piper laughed at the Athena boy. She should know, she _met _JB.

"Or Harry Styles." Lacy sighed dreamily, fanning herself with her hand. She was probably day-dreaming of Harry.

"Besides, JB and Harry are, like, _waaaaaaaaaaaaaayyy _hotter than you are, Malcolm." Drew smiled sweetly at Malcolm as he blushed.

"You didn't have to be mean Drew." Lacy spat at back, blonde pigtails bouncing, "We were just kidding and you were, like, dead serious."

Drew smiled venomously at Lacy. "I'd watch what I was saying if I was you, Brace Face."

"Fortunately, you're not Lacy!" Marshall, another son of Aphrodite, shot back at her. Drew sat back and stared at her nails, trying and failing, to come up with a witty remark.

"Actually," a girl from Hephaestus said, "Malcolm is cuter than both JB and Harry combined."

Malcolm grinned proudly with a little blush.

"Can we get past how hot Malcolm is and read the book?" Leo asked, pretending to sound more annoyed than he actually was.

"Whats wrong Leo?" Ryan grinned at his friend. "Frustrated that Malcolm is better looking than you?"

"You only wish that was the case." Leo replied, still grinning like an idiot.

"Boys are idiots!" Katie declared.

"Agreed." Every other girl said in unision.

"We are getting no where." Percy muttered.

"Agreed." Annabeth nodded.

**we had a nice tour, though I was careful not to walk behind him. I'd done pooper-scooper patrol in the Macy's Thanksgiving** **Day Parade a few times, and, I'm sorry, I did not trust Chiron's back end the way I trusted his front.**

Chiron gave Percy an unamused stare as other campers held their breath trying not to laugh.

"That is too funny." Travis wheezed, trying to breath through his clenched teeth that was preventing him from guffawing.

**We passed the volleyball pit. Several of the campers nudged each other. One pointed to the minotaur horn I was carrying. Another said, "That's **_**him**_**."**

**Most of the campers were older than me. Their satyr friends were bigger than Grover, all of them trotting around in orange CAMP HALF-BLOOD T-shirts, with nothing else to cover their bare shaggy hindquarters. I wasn't normally shy, but the way they stared at me made me uncomfortable. I felt like they were expecting me to do a flip or something.**

"I was one of those people." Chris admitted.

"A good majority of us were." Karina, a Nemesis girl said. She had been one of the undetermined back before the wars.

"Yep. Like it was yesterday." Nico joked.

"You weren't even here to see it!" Thalia reminded him.

Nico gave one of those, 'i dont really care' looks. "Neither were you."

"Yes i was."

"Doesn't count since you were a tree."

"Shut up."

Make me." Nico shuddered a few times, volts of electricity coursing through his body. Thalia smiled at her handiwork.

**I looked back at the farmhouse. It was a lot bigger than I'd realized—four stories tall, sky blue with white trim, like an upscale seaside resort. I was checking out the brass eagle weather****n vain on top when something caught my eye, a shadow in the uppermost window of the attic gable. Something had moved the curtain, just for a second, and I got the distinct impression I was being watched.**

**"What's up there?" I asked Chiron.**

**He looked where I was pointing, and his smile faded. "Just the attic."**

**"Somebody lives there?"**

**"No," he said with finality. "Not a single living thing."**

**I got the feeling he was being truthful. But I was also sure something had moved that curtain.**

"Since we know it could, get up and walk, i think it's safe to assume that it moved the curtain." Marc said, leaning back in his chair. He flashed Rachel a smile, who scowled and looked away. Marc shrugged, not knowing what her problem was.

"Wouldn't it be funny if the Oracle was like, 'Percy, I _am _your father." Jason asked, immitating Darth Vadar's breathy tone.

"Um no it wouldn't, considering the Oracle was a mummified _girl._" Percy answered, deeply disgusted by the thought.

"Yeah, and the Oracle is my dad's Oracle." Faith crossed her arms, equally as annoyed by the thought.

"Wait a second." Reyna made a T, timeout, sign with her hands. "I thought Rachel was the Oracle."

"Oh yeah. Good point." Hazel nodded appreciativly.

"I am now." Rachel confirmed. "But the Oracle was a mummy for a long time before i became the Oracle."

"And she got up and walked?" Frank asked.

"Oh yeah. It was creepy." Thalia made the bear claw and pushed away from her heart—warding off evil.

"Geez, guys, he was joking. Learn how to take a joke." Liam and Jason fist bumped, although Jason wasn't quite sure who Liam was. He knew that Liam made Thalia and Annabeth uncomfortable in a grievous way but that was it.

**"Come along, Percy," Chiron said, his lighthearted tone now a little forced. "Lots to see."**

**We walked through the strawberry fields, where campers were picking bushels of berries while a satyr played a tune on a reed pipe.****Chiron told me the camp grew a nice crop for export to New York restaurants and Mount Olympus. "It pays our expenses," he explained. "And the strawberries take almost no effort."**

**He said Mr. D had this effect on fruit-bearing plants: they just went crazy when he was around. It worked best with wine grapes, but Mr. D was restricted from growing those, so they grew strawberries instead.**

"Demeter's cabin helps too you know!" Miranda called out, a little insulted.

"Forgive my incompetence." Chiron said as more of an order than a choice.

**I watched the satyr playing his pipe. His music was causing lines of bugs to leave the strawberry patch in every direction, like refugees fleeing a fire. I wondered if Grover could work that kind of magic with music.**

"Not at that time, but i can now." Grover beamed, fingering the read pipes hanging from his belt. "Killed a Titan with it. Turned him into a tree."

**I wondered if he was still inside the farmhouse, getting chewed out by Mr. D.**

**"Grover won't get in too much trouble, will he?" I asked Chiron. "I mean ... he was a good protector. Really."**

**Chiron sighed. He shed his tweed jacket and draped it over his horses back like a saddle. "Grover has big dreams, Percy. Perhaps bigger than are reasonable.** **To reach his goal, he must first demonstrate great courage by succeeding as a keeper, finding a new camper and bringing him safely to Half-Blood Hill."**

**"But he did that!"**

**"I might agree with you," Chiron said. "But it is not my place to judge. Dionysus and the Council of Cloven Elders must decide. I'm afraid they might not see this assignment as a success. After all, Grover lost you in New York. Then there's the unfortunate ... ah ... fate of your mother. And the fact that Grover was unconscious when you dragged him over the property line. The council might question whether this shows any courage on Grover's part."**

"That counsel was full of a bunch of jerky old satyrs." Percy groped quietly, remembering how unfair they were towards Grover.

"Yeah. Mr D was the most likable on that freakin' counsel." Annabeth whspered back, twirling the end of her braid with her index finger.

"Which is saying alot." Percy affirmed, shifting his position in on the step mildly.

**I wanted to protest. None of what happened was Grover's fault. I also felt really, really guilty. If I hadn't given Grover the slip at the bus station, he might not have gotten in trouble.**

**"He'll get a second chance, won't he?"**

**Chiron winced. "I'm afraid that **_**was **_**Grover's second chance, Percy. The council was not anxious to give him another, either, after what happened the first time, five years ago. ****Olympus knows, I advised him to wait longer before trying again. He's still so small for his age..."**

**"How old is he?"**

**"Oh, twenty-eight."**

**"What! And he's in sixth grade?"**

**"Satyrs mature half as fast as humans, Percy. Grover has been the equivalent of a middle school student for the past six years."**

**"That's horrible."**

"Not when i'm 90, you guys are in your late 80's and i won't look a day over 45." Grover bragged in a teasing way.

"I want to be like a satyr!" Eliza Marie complained to Pollux.

**"Quite," Chiron agreed. "At any rate, Grover is a late bloomer, even by satyr standards, and not yet very accomplished at woodland magic. Alas, he was anxious to pursue his dream. Perhaps now he will find some other career..."**

"Like being Pan's heir." Christine smiled at Grover, trying to ignore Conner staring at her.

**"That's not fair," I said. "What happened the first time? Was it really so bad?"**

"Not unless you call being turned into a pine tree bad." Clarisse muttered.

"Being a tree actually wasn't so bad." Thalia amended, noticing Grover's hurt expression from Clarisse's comment.

**Chiron looked away quickly. "Let's move along, shall we?"**

**But I wasn't quite ready to let the subject drop. Something had occurred to me when Chiron talked about my mother's fate, as if he were intentionally avoiding the word **_**death. **_**The beginnings of an idea—a tiny, hopeful fire—started forming in my mind.**

**"Chiron," I said. "If the gods and Olympus and all that are real ..."**

**"Yes, child?"**

**"Does that mean the Underworld is real, too?"**

**Chiron's expression darkened.**

**"Yes, child." He paused, as if choosing his words care fully. "There is a place where spirits go after death. But for now ... until we know more ... I would urge you to put that out of your mind."**

"What the hey-hey?" Nico asked, crossing his arms. "The Underworld isn't so bad."

Hazel tugged on Nico's aviatior sleeve. "That's because you're Hades' kid and you're still alive when you're there. Being dead, even being Pluto's kid isn't a fiesta."

"Fiesta! A Mexican party!" Tyson exclaimed excited. "Ella taught me that word!"

"YAH! ME WANTY A TACO!" Leo shouted, nudging Reyna, who continued to ignore him.

"I just had a taco for lunch ironically." Nico said, relaxing his hands. He hadn't noticed that he was digging his fingernails into his palms.

**"What do you mean, 'until we know more'?"**

**"Come, Percy. Let's see the woods."**

**As we got closer, I realized how huge the forest was. It took up at least a quarter of the valley, with trees so tall and thick, you could imagine nobody had been in there since the Native Americans.**

**Chiron said, "The woods are stocked, if you care to try your luck, but go armed."**

"It's fun going monster hunting in the woods at night." Christine smiled, remembering when her and Annabeth convinced Rachel to go monster hunting with them for the first time.

Conner turned and grinned at her. "What do you say babe? You. Me. Date in the woods hunting monsters?"

Christine rolled her eyes. "Um, let me think. No."

"Oh, hard to get i see. I like it." Conner started formulating a plan that would make the Iris girl his girlfriend.

**"Stocked with what?" I asked. "Armed with what?"**

**"You'll see. Capture the flag is Friday night. Do you have your own sword and shield?"**

**"My own—?"**

**"No," Chiron said. "I don't suppose you do. I think a size five will do. I'll visit the armory later."**

"Chiron, out of curiosity, has _any_ half-blood come to camp with their own sword and shield?" Percy asked.

"You'd be surprised." Chiron replied

**I wanted to ask what kind of summer camp had an armory, but there was too much else to think about, so the tour continued. We saw the archery range, the canoeing lake, the stables (which Chiron didn't seem to like very much), ****the javelin range, the sing-along amphitheatre, and the arena where Chiron said they held sword and spear fights.**

**"Sword and spear fights?" I asked.**

**"Cabin challenges and all that," he explained. "Not lethal. Usually."**

"Unless Clarisse takes a jab at you." Piper whispered to herself. Jason chuckled.

**"Oh, yes, and there's the mess hall." ****Chiron pointed to an outdoor pavilion framed in white Grecian columns on a hill overlooking the sea. There were a dozen stone picnic tables. No roof. No walls.**

**"What do you do when it rains?" I asked.**

**Chiron looked at me as if I'd gone a little weird. ****"We still have to eat, don't we?" **

**I**** decided to drop the subject.**

**Finally, he showed me the cabins. There were twelve of them, nestled in the woods by the lake. They were arranged in a U, with two at the base and five in a row on either side. And they were without doubt the most bizarre collection of buildings I'd ever seen.**

"Doesn't look like that anymore." Travis wrapped an arm around Katie.

"Yeah. Everything is scattered around more." Pollux agreed. "The cabins that is."

**Except for the fact that each had a large brass number above the door (odds on the left side, evens on the right), they looked absolutely nothing alike. Number nine had smokestacks, like a tiny factory.**

"OH YEAH!" Leo jumped up and started doing the Harlem Shake at the description of his cabin.

"Sit your butt down Valdez!" Faith yelled at him.

"Thinking about butts are we?" Leo quipped back, still dancing oddly.

Faith blushed, embaressed. "N-no! I wasn't!" She stuttered, burying her burning face into Ryan's orange t-shirt.

Ryan draped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her into a hug. He gave Leo a stern look. "Not cool man."

"I was just joking."

"Leo! SIT down." Reyna snapped at him. Leo hurriedly sat down, just relieved that his Roman said something to him.

**Number four had tomato vines on the walls and a roof made out of real grass.**

"Demeter!" Katie hollered gingerly.

"Cabin four!" Miranda squealed giddily.

"Can we get a what-what?" Qunitin, an 11 year old Demeter boy, shouted out.

"What?"

**Seven seemed to be made of solid gold, which gleamed so much in the sunlight it was almost impossible to look at.**

"Apollo!" Jonathan shouted. Jonathan's a 15 year-old Korean camper with dark black hair and brown eyes that almost seemed black. He sat on the other side of Faith. (A/N Jonathan is one of my bestest friends ever, and we're really close. He will now make repeated appearances.) He poked his half sister in the side and she giggled.

"Stop that, Jonathan!" Faith giggled. She wrapped one arm around Ryan and the other around Jonathan, her two best friends.

"What the heck? He's not even Apollo's kid! He's from Athena!" Riva (A/N who is my real rival) pointed at Ryan accusingly.

"Back off, Riva!" Ryan barked at her. "I can be here if i want."

"Shut up!"

"You shut up!" Jonathan yelled at the annoying girl.

"Why can't those two stop arguing?" Jason grumbled.

"ALL OF YOU SHUT UP!" Thalia crackled with electricity and the immature argument silenced.

**They all faced a commons area about the size of a soccer field, dotted with Greek statues, fountains, flower beds, and a couple of basketball hoops (which were more my speed).**

"Nice Percy." Travis said.

Percy grinned.

**In the center of the field was a huge stone-lined firepit. Even though it was a warm afternoon, the hearth smoldered. A girl about nine years old was tending the flames, poking the coals with a stick.**

Percy and Annabeth shot forward at the same time. "Oh my gods, that was Hestia!" Percy exclaimed, now realizing the strange girl was really his aunt.

"How could i have not figured that out until now?" Annabeth asked herself, feeling stupid.

**The pair of cabins at the head of the field, numbers one and two, looked like his-and-hers mausoleums, big white marble boxes with heavy columns in front. Cabin one was the biggest and bulkiest of the twelve. Its polished bronze doors shimmered like a hologram, so that from different angles lightning bolts seemed to streak across them.**

"Oh yeah. Cabin one." Jason sang in a random melody.

"Oh yeah. Cabin one." Thalia laughed, picking up the same tune.

**Cabin two was more graceful somehow, with slimmer columns garlanded with pomegranates and flowers. The walls were carved with images of peacocks.**

Annabeth scowled at Hera's name. She _reaaalllly _had a strong dislike for that annoying goddess.

**"Zeus and Hera?" I guessed.**

"Sure. Zeus and Hera have cabins that _no one _lives in while Hades' kids have to fend for themselves." Nico grumbled bitterly. Hazel patted his hand and he relaxed.

**"Correct," Chiron said.**

**"Their cabins look empty."**

**"Several of the cabins are. That's true. No one ever stays in one or two."**

**Okay. So each cabin had a different god, like a mascot. ****Twelve cabins for the twelve Olympians. But why would some be empty?**

**I stopped in front of the first cabin on the left, cabin three.**

"Poseidon in da house!" Percy joked, pretending to dust his shoulders.

A few campers went, "Oooohh!" as if it were a music video.

**It wasn't high and mighty like cabin one, but long and low and solid. The outer walls were of rough gray stone studded with pieces of seashell and coral, as if the slabs had been hewn straight from the bottom of the ocean floor. I peeked inside the open doorway ****and Chiron said, "Oh, I wouldn't do that!"**

**Before he could pull me back, I caught the salty scent of the interior, like the wind on the shore at Montauk. The interior walls glowed like abalone. There were six empty bunk beds with silk sheets turned down. But there was no sign anyone had ever slept there. The place felt so sad and lonely, I was glad when Chiron put his hand on my shoulder and said, "Come along, Percy."**

**Most of the other cabins were crowded with campers.**

**Number five was bright red—a real nasty paint job, as if the color had been splashed on with buckets and fists.****The roof was lined with barbed wire. A stuffed wild boar's head hung over the doorway, and its eyes seemed to follow me.**

Jared, an older Ares kid growled. "We should break your nose for that."

** Inside I could see a bunch of mean-looking kids, both girls and boys, arm wrestling and arguing with each other while rock music blared. The loudest was a girl maybe thirteen or fourteen. She wore a size XXXL CAMP HALF-BLOOD T-shirt under a camouflage jacket. She zeroed in on me and gave me an evil sneer. She reminded me of Nancy Bobofit, though the camper girl was much bigger and tougher looking, and her hair was long and stringy, and brown instead of red.**

Clarisse gasped a little bit. "Prissy Jackson!" Percy winced and turned around slowly. "I was not that big."

Percy shrugged. "Okay. So maybe i exaggerated a little bit. I apologize."

"How old were you then?" Liam bravely asked.

Clarisse sized up Luke's look alike, impressed by his guts. "Fifteen kid."

**I kept walking, trying to stay clear of Chiron's hooves. "We haven't seen any other centaurs," I observed.**

**"No," said Chiron sadly. "My kinsmen are a wild and barbaric folk, ****I'm afraid. You might encounter them in the wilderness, or at major sporting events. But you won't see any here."**

Annabeth and Percy shared a knowing look. "Party Ponies!"

**"You said your name was Chiron. Are you really ..."**

**He smiled down at me. **_**"The **_**Chiron from the stories? Trainer of Hercules and all that? Yes, Percy, I am."**

**"But, shouldn't you be dead?"**

"Way to get your point across Percy." Grover laughed.

**Chiron paused, as if the question intrigued him. "I honestly don't know about **_**should **_**be. The truth is, I **_**can't **_**be dead. You see, eons ago the gods granted my wish. I could continue the work I loved. I could be a teacher of heroes as long as humanity needed me. I gained much from that wish ... and I gave up much. But I'm still here, so I can only assume I'm still needed."**

**I thought about being a teacher for three thousand years. It wouldn't have made my Top Ten Things to Wish For list.**

**"Doesn't it ever get boring?"**

**"No, no," he said. "Horribly depressing, at times, but never boring."**

**"Why depressing?"**

**Chiron seemed to turn hard of hearing again.**

**"Oh, look," he said. "Annabeth is waiting for us."**

**The blonde girl I'd met at the Big House was reading a book in front of the last cabin on the left, number eleven. ****When we reached her, she looked me over critically, like she was still thinking about how much I drooled. **

Percy groaned while people laughed and Annabeth hid a faint smile.

**I tried to see what she was reading, but I couldn't make out the title. I thought my dyslexia was acting up. Then I realized the title wasn't even English. The letters looked Greek to me. I mean, literally Greek.**

**There were pictures of temples and statues and different kinds of columns, like those in an architecture book.**

**"Annabeth," Chiron said, "I have masters' archery class at noon. Would you take Percy from here?"**

**"Yes, sir."**

**"Cabin eleven," Chiron told me, gesturing toward the doorway. "Make yourself at home."**

**Out of all the cabins, eleven looked the most like a regular old summer camp cabin, with the emphasis on **_**old.**_

"Its not _old!_" Marc protested.

"It is just very worn." Conner added.

"Yeah. We had to take all the undetermined for the longest of time remember." Cassidra, a Hermes girl around 22, reminded everyone.

**The threshold was worn down, the brown paint peeling. Over the doorway was one of those doctor's symbols, a winged pole with two snakes wrapped around it. What did they call it... ?**

**A caduceus.**

"George and Martha..." Percy smirked. Those two bickering snakes said some funny stuff sometimes.

**Inside, it was packed with people, both boys and girls, way more than the number of bunk beds. Sleeping bags were spread all over on the floor. It looked like a gym where the Red Cross had set up an evacuation center.**

**Chiron didn't go in. The door was too low for him. But when the campers saw him they all stood and bowed respectfully.**

**"Well, then," Chiron said. "Good luck, Percy. I'll see you at dinner."**

**He galloped away toward the archery range.**

**I stood in the doorway, looking at the kids. They weren't bowing anymore. They were staring at me, sizing me up. I knew this routine. I'd gone through it at enough schools.**

**"Well?" Annabeth prompted. "Go on."**

**So naturally I tripped coming in the door and made a total fool of myself.**

The arena campers erupted with laughs and giggles. Annabeth leaned against Percy for suport as she doubled over laughing. Even Percy laughed at his own stupidity.

**There were some snickers from the campers, but none of them said anything.**

**Annabeth announced, "Percy Jackson, meet cabin eleven."**

**"Regular or undetermined?" somebody asked.**

"That was me!" Marc exclaimed.

"Nuh uh! It was me!" Suzy, a determined Hecate girl, said.

"Oh yeah. Thats right."

**I didn't know what to say, but Annabeth said, "Undetermined."**

**Everybody groaned.**

**A guy who was a little older than the rest came forward.**

**"Now, now, campers. That's what we're here for. Welcome, Percy. You can have that spot on the floor, right over there."**

**The guy was about nineteen, and he looked pretty cool. He was tall and muscular, with short-cropped sandy hair and a friendly smile. He wore an orange tank top, cutoffs, sandals, and a leather necklace with five different-colored clay beads. The only thing unsettling about his appearance was a thick white scar that ran from just beneath his right eye to his jaw, like an old knife slash.**

"Luke..." Thalia whispered sadly.

"Who's Luke again?" Hazel asked, not realizing the depth of the mental wound he had on a majority of the campers.

"He was...a friend of ours..." Annabeth was at a loss for words.

"The book will explain it Hazel. Don't worry." Ryan filled in for Annabeth, noticing her broken expression as she leaned against Percy. She mouthed 'thank you' to him.

**"This is Luke," ****Annabeth said, and her voice sounded different somehow. I glanced over and could've sworn she was blushing.**

Percy was a little surprised when he realized his grip around Annabeth's shoulder's tightened. He didn't realize how jealous of Luke he actually was.

**She saw me looking, and her expression hardened again. "He's your counselor, for now."**

**"For now?" I asked.**

**"You're undetermined," Luke explained patiently. "They don't know what cabin to put you in, so you're here. Cabin eleven takes all newcomers, all visitors. Naturally, we would. Hermes, our patron, is the god of travelers."**

**I looked at the tiny section of floor they'd given me. I had nothing to put there to mark it as my own, no luggage, no clothes, no sleeping bag. Just the Minotaur's horn. I thought about setting that down, but then I remembered that Hermes was also the god of thieves.**

"Hurtful!" Travis joked.

"You're so dramatic Trav." Katie beamed.

**I looked around at the campers' faces, some sullen and suspicious, some grinning stupidly, some eyeing me as if they were waiting for a chance to pick my pockets.**

"I was sullen and suspicious," a Hermes girl admitted.

"I was the one grinning stupidly." Marc started grinning stupidly.

"I was waiting to pick his pockets." Conner admitted, a sly smile on his face.

"Everyone! Be careful around Conner!" Leo announced.

**"How long will I be here?" I asked.**

**"Good question," Luke said. "Until you're determined."**

**"How long will that take?"**

**The campers all laughed.**

**"Come on," Annabeth told me. "I'll show you the volleyball court."**

**"I've already seen it."**

**"Come on." She grabbed my wrist and dragged me outside. I could hear the kids of cabin eleven laughing behind me.**

**When we were a few feet away, Annabeth said, "Jackson, you have to do better than that."**

**"What?"**

**She rolled her eyes and mumbled under her breath, "I can't believe I thought you were the one."**

**"What's your problem?" I was getting angry now. "All I know is, I kill some bull guy—"**

**"Don't talk like that!" Annabeth told me. "You know how many kids at this camp wish they'd had your chance?"**

**"To get killed?"**

"Only Percy would suggest that." Rachel snickered.

**"To fight the Minotaur! What do you think we train for?"**

**I shook my head. "Look, if the thing I fought really was **_**the **_**Minotaur, the same one in the stories ..."**

**"Yes."**

**"Then there's only one."**

**"Yes."**

**"And he died, like, a gajillion years ago, right? Theseus killed him in the labyrinth. So ..."**

**"Monsters don't die, Percy. They can be killed. But they don't die."**

"What a straight forward answer." Jonathan joked.

**"Oh, thanks. That clears it up."**

**"They don't have souls, like you and me. You can dispel them for a while, maybe even for a whole lifetime if you're lucky. But they are primal forces. Chiron calls them arche types. Eventually, they re-form."**

**I thought about Mrs. Dodds. "You mean if I killed one, accidentally, with a sword—"**

**"The Fur ... I mean, your math teacher. That's right. She's still out there. You just made her very, very mad."**

**"How did you know about Mrs. Dodds?"**

**"You talk in your sleep."**

"Oh so you watch me when i sleep do you?" Percy questioned Annabeth.

Annabeth turned a little pink. "No. I was helping heal you. So shut up."

"I helped too! Im not even mentioned." Faith complained to herself.

**"You almost called her something. A Fury? They're Hades' torturers, right?"**

"Yes, and they're dangerous...unless you can command them." Nico smirked.

**Annabeth glanced nervously at the ground, as if she expected it to open up and swallow her.**

**"You shouldn't call them by name, even here. We call them the Kindly Ones, if we have to speak of them at all."**

**"Look, is there anything we **_**can **_**say without it thundering?" I sounded whiny, even to myself, but right then I didn't care. "Why do I have to stay in cabin eleven, anyway? Why is everybody so crowded together? There are plenty of empty bunks right over there."**

**I pointed to the first few cabins, and Annabeth turned pale. "You don't just choose a cabin, Percy. It depends on who your parents are. Or ... your parent."**

**She stared at me, waiting for me to get it.**

**"My mom is Sally Jackson," I said.** **"She works at the candy store in Grand Central Station. At least, she used to."**

"She writes books now." Grover said proudly since Sally was like his adoptive mother.

**"I'm sorry about your mom, Percy. But that's not what I mean. I'm talking about your other parent. Your dad."**

**"He's dead. I never knew him."**

**Annabeth sighed. Clearly, she'd had this conversation before with other kids. ****"Your father's not dead, Percy."**

"I'm one." Piper said, raising her hand.

"I'm two." Jason raised his ow hand.

"I'm 16." Leo turned to Jason and Piper. "You two are a couple of babies."

**"How can you say that? You know him?"**

**"No, of course not."**

**"Then how can you say—"**

**"Because I know **_**you.**_ **You wouldn't be here if you weren't one of us."**

**"You don't know anything about me."**

**"No?" She raised an eyebrow. "I bet you moved around from school to school. I bet you were kicked out of a lot of them."**

**"How—"**

**"Diagnosed with dyslexia. Probably ADHD, too."**

**I tried to swallow my embarrassment. "What does that have to do with anything?"**

"Alot, unfortunately." Lacy groaned.

**"Taken together, it's almost a sure sign. The letters float off the page when you read, right? That's because your mind is hardwired for ancient Greek.** **And the ADHD—you're impulsive, can't sit still in the classroom. That's your battle field reflexes. In a real fight, they'd keep you alive. As for the attention problems, that's because you see too much, Percy, not too little. Your senses are better than a regular mortal's. Of course the teachers want you medicated. Most of them are monsters. They don't want you seeing them for what they are."**

**"You sound like ... you went through the same thing?"**

**"Most of the kids here did. If you weren't like us, you couldn't have survived the Minotaur, much less the ambrosia and nectar."**

**"Ambrosia and nectar."**

**"The food and drink we were giving you to make you better. That stuff would've killed a normal kid. ****It would've turned your blood to fire and your bones to sand and you'd be dead. Face it. You're a half-blood."**

"Remind me to never eat or drink that stuff. I like my bones the way they are." Rachel shivered, her ankle throbbing just from the pure thought.

**A half-blood. ****I was reeling with so many questions I didn't know where to start.**

**Then a husky voice yelled, "Well! A newbie!"**

**I looked over. The big girl from the ugly red cabin ****was sauntering toward us. She had three other girls behind her, all big and ugly and mean looking like her, all wearing camo jackets.**

"My babe, Clarisse!" Chris shouted, gesturing to his girlfriend.

"Shut up. This chapter is kinda embaressing." Clarisse muttered back, trying to draw away some attention that was fixated on her.

**"Clarisse," Annabeth sighed. "Why don't you go polish your spear or something?"**

"Mainly because both broke." Clarisse muttered.

**"Sure, Miss Princess," the big girl said. "So I can run you through with it Friday night."**

"That nickname did stick." Annabeth whispered.

_**''Erre es korakas!"**_ **Annabeth said, which I somehow under stood was Greek for 'Go to the crows!' though I had a feeling it was a worse curse than it sounded.**

"Annabeth! Language like that at 12?" Chiron scolded the blonde Athenian girl.

**"You don't stand a chance."**

**"We'll pulverize you," Clarisse said, but her eye twitched. Perhaps she wasn't sure she could follow through on the threat.**

"Of course I was sure!" Clarisse responded to the stunned stares she was getting.

**She turned toward me. "Who's this little runt?"**

**"Percy Jackson," Annabeth said, "meet Clarisse, Daughter of Ares."**

**I blinked. "Like ... the war god?"**

**Clarisse sneered. "You got a problem with that?"**

**"No," I said, recovering my wits. "It explains the bad smell."**

Clarisse had an expression that no one dared make angry.

**Clarisse growled. "We got an initiation ceremony for newbies, Prissy."**

**"Percy."**

**"Whatever. Come on, I'll show you."**

**"Clarisse—" Annabeth tried to say.**

**"Stay out of it, wise girl."**

"Yep. That nickname stuck too." Annabeth nodded.

"Yus, Wise Girl." Percy poked Annabeth on the cheek, and she swatted his hand away with a light laugh.

**Annabeth looked pained, but she did stay out of it, and I didn't really want her help. I was the new kid. I had to earn my own rep.**

"Isn't Hero of Olympus a little drastic though?" Thalia asked in a joking manner.

"Nah. I think i could do better even." Percy teased back.

**I handed Annabeth my minotaur horn and got ready to fight, but before I knew it, Clarisse had me by the neck and was dragging me toward a cinder-block building that I knew immediately was the bathroom.**

"So thats where this chapter is going..." Ryan murmured, suddenly remembering.

**I was kicking and punching. I'd been in plenty of fights before, but this big girl Clarisse had hands like iron.**

**She dragged me into the girls' bathroom. There was a line of toilets on one side and a line of shower stalls down the other. It smelled just like any public bathroom, and I was thinking—as much as I **_**could **_**think with Clarisse ripping my hair out—that if this place belonged to the gods, they should've been able to afford classier johns.**

The camp burst out laughing again. Thunder boomed in seeming protest, but that didn't help their cause—it only added fuel to the laughing fire.

**Clarisse's friends were all laughing, and I was trying to find the strength I'd used to fight the Minotaur, but it just wasn't there.**

**"Like he's 'Big Three' material," Clarisse said as she pushed me toward one of the toilets. "Yeah, right. Minotaur probably fell over laughing, he was so stupid looking."**

"You were so friendly back then Clarisse." Reyna muttered.

"Hey!" Clarisse growled at Reyna. The two girls squared each other off, daring one another to back down.

"They both have immortal parents of war..." Liam gaped at the intensity between them.

"Girls. Enough." Chiron boomed, and the two immediatly turned back to the reading.

"Thats my Roman!" Leo planted a kiss on Reyna's cheek and her lips twitched into a smile.

**Her friends snickered.**

**Annabeth stood in the corner, watching through her fingers.**

"You were a big help i see." Malcolm poked his sister.

**Clarisse bent me over on my knees and started pushing my head toward the toilet bowl. It reeked like rusted pipes and, well, like what goes into toilets.**

"That is sooooooooooooo yucky!" Eliza Marie gagged.

"Yes it is." Lacy agreed. She started looking seasick, the way Hazel did on the Argo II.

**I strained to keep my head up. I was looking at the scummy water, thinking, I will not go into that. I won't.**

**Then something happened. I felt a tug in the pit of my stomach.**

**I heard the plumbing rumble, the pipes shudder. Clarisse's grip on my hair loosened. Water shot out of the toilet, making an arc straight over my head, and the next thing I knew, I was sprawled on the bathroom tiles with Clarisse screaming behind me.**

**I turned just as water blasted out of the toilet again, hitting Clarisse straight in the face so hard it pushed her down onto her butt.**

**The water stayed on her like the spray from a fire hose, pushing her backward into a shower stall.**

**She struggled, gasping, and her friends started coming toward her.**

**But then the other toilets exploded, too, and six more streams of toilet water blasted them back. The showers acted up, too, and together all the fixtures sprayed the camouflage girls right out of the bathroom, spinning them around like pieces of garbage being washed away.**

"Not one of my finest moments." Clara, one of Clarisse's friends that had tried helping her give Percy a swirly said dejected.

**As soon as they were out the door, I felt the tug in my gut lessen, and the water shut off as quickly as it had started.**

**The entire bathroom was flooded. Annabeth hadn't been spared.**

"Yeah. Thanks alot, Seaweed Brain." Annabeth muttered, crossing her arms across her chest.

**She was dripping wet, but she hadn't been pushed out the door. She was standing in exactly the same place, staring at me in shock.**

**I looked down and realized I was sitting in the only dry spot in the whole room. There was a circle of dry floor around me. I didn't have one drop of water on my clothes. Nothing.**

"That ... is freaking awesome." Jonathan grinned.

**I stood up, my legs shaky.**

**Annabeth said, "How did you ..."**

**"I don't know."**

**We walked to the door. Outside, Clarisse and her friends were sprawled in the mud, and a bunch of other campers had gathered around to gawk. Clarisse's hair was flattened across her face. Her camouflage jacket was sopping and she smelled like sewage.**

**She gave me a look of absolute hatred. "You are dead, new boy. You are totally dead."**

**I probably should have let it go, but I said, "You want to gargle with toilet water again, Clarisse? Close your mouth."**

"I know. That wasn't cool to say." Percy cut off Clarisse from her apparent rant. "But you did try to stick my head in a toilet when i had done nothing bad to you."

Clarisse kept her mouth shut, upset that he was _right._

**Her friends had to hold her back. They dragged her toward cabin five, while the other campers made way to avoid her flailing feet.**

**Annabeth stared at me. I couldn't tell whether she was just grossed out or angry at me for dousing her.**

"I would be both." Hazel said, thinking how disgusting it would be to get hosed down by toilet water.

"Ditto." Piper said.

**"What?" I demanded. "What are you thinking?"**

**"I'm thinking," she said, "that I want you on my team for capture the flag."**

"How cute!" Cleo, Aphrodite, squealed.

"It was so obvious that you two would end up together." Thalia teased, playing with Annabeth's ratty braid.

"Sure. It's not like Annabeth just set me up to help her win capture the flag." Percy grinned.

"No way! Really?" Thalia asked Annabeth a little to enthusiastically.

"Yeppers." The blonde replied wistfully.

"Ahem," CHiron cleared his throat, "But who would care to read next?"


	9. Liam Has Self Esteem Problems

**I didn't have school today due to my Jr high being canceled because we lost power from all of the storms that blew through last night. (Michigan resident XD)**

**So in my down time today, I worked on this chapter**

* * *

**Chapter Seven: Liam Has Self Esteem Problems**

"I do." Liam slipped out from his spot on the bleachers between his sister Korea and a brother named Scott. His shaggy blonde hair fell over his eyes, and his perfect teeth formed a crooked smile. As he passed by Annabeth and Thalia, he could tell by their sharp breath intakes that they felt uneasy when he was round, which kind of hurt since he almost seemed to idolize them.

Taking his time to jump over Leo's outstretched leg, Liam joined Chiron by the fire pit. He accepted the chapter book from the centaur then found the stump that Jason and Hazel had uses when they read.

Liam cleared his throat, glancing up real quick. His Hermes siblings were snickering to themselves, making fun of him no doubt. Liam tried to brush off the feeling of being an outsider. He knew why he was an outcast to— he looked alot like his older brother Luke. Travis and Conner tried making him feel like he belonged, but it seemed like a force of habit.

Although Liam had never met Luke, it was obvious that he had done some pretty shameful deeds. Secretly, Liam wondered what had happened to Luke since no one had ever said anything and he was a little nervous about asking.

Eyes scanning the crowd, Liam couldn't help but ask himself, _why did you volunteer, moron?_ He was surprisingly shy for a son of Hermes and didn't care for part taking in pranks or other rambunctious behaviour. Then his hazel eyes landed on Tizzy. (Her real name is Tiaandra Critizzy, but everyone called her Tizzy) She's a 13 year old Indian, daughter of Hephaestus, with almond brown eyes and frizzy black hair. She was virtually the only friend Liam had that didn't characterize him as 'Luke's look-alike." To Tizzy, he was just plain Liam.

His lips twitched toward a smile as the day seemed to brighten at the simplicity of Tizzy encouraging him onward. So he took a deep breath, and Liam read chapter seven.

**Chapter Seven:** **My Dinner Goes up in Smoke.**

**Word of the bathroom incident spread immediately. Wherever I went, campers pointed at me and murmured something about toilet water. Or maybe they were just staring at Annabeth, who was still pretty much dripping wet.**

"I'm sure she didn't smell all that mix either." Chris grinned, using his hands to support his face.

"Hey Chris." Annabeth growled at him.

"What Princess?" Chris had picked up on Clarisse's pet name for Annabeth a couple months prior and used it whenever deemed it appropriate—though it never was appropriate.

"Shut up!"

"Burn..." Travis and Conner laughed to themselves quietly

**She showed me a few more places: the metal shop (where kids were forging their own swords), the arts-and-crafts room (where satyrs were sandblasting a giant marble statue of a goat-man), and the climbing wall, which actually consisted of two facing walls that shook violently, dropped boulders, sprayed lava, and clashed together if you didn't get to the top fast enough.**

"I don't see why it spews lava." Christine commented out loud.

"Me neither. It's not like lava pours out of cliffs on a daily basis." An Aphrodite boy said.

"You'd be surprised how helpful the skills we use to navigate that wall helped us navigate Tartarus." Percy gestured to Annabeth and himself. All eyes were on him when he uttered Tartarus.

"Alright. I make a mental not of that the next time I go grocery shopping in Tartarus." Leo said back in a joking way, and the Stolls, Marc, and several other Apollo and chuckled.

"Tartarus isn't something to tease about, Leo." Nico warned, chills running down his spine from the remembrance of his own trek through Greek hell.

"He's right Leo." Chiron seconded. His face was suddenly solemn.

Leo tried to brush it off but he suddenly felt uncomfortable. He should have considered the fact that Nico had been there and came back. Even Annabeth and Percy came back from Tartarus different. Yet, Leo had to push that aside. He couldn't let the others know how he really felt. His state of pride wouldn't allow it. "Geez. It was a joke."

Nico pulled his knees up to his chest and he hugged his knees while Hazel rubbed his back soothingly. "Just try to keep in mind, if the son of Hades is scared shitless, you should be too." Faith giggled at his response, and Nico brightened slightly knowing he made her laugh.

"Nico, watch your mouth." Hazel crossed her arms with an unamused pout.

**Finally we returned to the canoeing lake, where the trail led back to the cabins.**

**"I've got training to do," Annabeth said flatly. "Dinner's at seven-thirty. Just follow your cabin to the mess hall."**

"Dinner's at eight o'clock now-a-days." Rachel pointed out.

"To fit in more activities during the day." Chiron explained, scratching at a series of mosquito bites on his forearm.

"That's why it seemed longer to eat dinner..." Tyson muttered thoughtfully. "Because it was taking longer." He beamed like he just solved the world's toughest riddle.

"Dinner was always six back at Camp Jupiter." Jason thought out loud.

"It was moved back to seven now." Reyna informed him with a dead straight poker face. Jason wondered how she and Annabeth were so good at concealing their emotions.

**"Annabeth, I'm sorry about the toilets."**

**"Whatever."**

**"It wasn't my fault."**

"I'm 99.9% sure that it was your fault." Katie said, crossing her legs and bouncing them slowly. She suddenly had to pee really bad and she didn't want miss anything.

"Aha!" Jonathan thruster a finger at Katie. "There's still .1% chance that you're not sure!" Conner, Travis, Leo and Percy cracked smiles and slight chuckles.

Katie rolled her eyes, not even the slightest embarrassed. "Fine 100% sure."

Percy fake wiped a tear. "That really stings Katie." He placed. over his heart. "Right here."

Katie rolled rolled her eyes.

"You're such a drama king!" Annabeth shoved him but he shoved her back. She got one of her frustrated looks and Percy's smile widened.

"Bigger drama king than Dad is..." Thalia muttered, relieved when thunder didn't boom and lightning didn't crash.

**She looked at me skeptically, and I realized it **_**was **_**my fault. I'd made water shoot out of the bathroom fixtures. I didn't understand how. But the toilets had responded to me. I had become one with the plumbing.**

"That must be a cool power." Marc nodded.

Conner nodded. "Yeah. So when someone cuts in line at Burger King, Percy can spray him down with 'employees only' toilet water." For the who knows how many time, the camp exploded with laughter at Conner's joke. When he heard Christine laughing her pretty little head off, Conner fist bumped the air a few times.

**"You need to talk to the Oracle," Annabeth said.**

**"Who?"**

**"Not who. What. The Oracle. I'll ask Chiron."**

Rachel crossed her arms in a diva like way. "What chu talkin' bout, not bein a who?"

Drew squealed in delight, pointing a manicured had at Rachel. "Hon, you sound fab." She checked her reflection in her IPhone case. "You tell off that nasty daughter of Athena."

"Ew." Rachel responded dryly. "And it was a joke and I wasn't telling her off."

"So lay off Drew, or I'll have mom give you a week of bad hair days." Piper spat back.

Drew leaned over and poked Piper's nose with a long fake nail, who swatted it away disgusted. "Aphrodite isn't gonna curse her own daughter to look unattractive."

"MOM!" Lacy, Marshall, and Piper yelled.

Drew smirked when nothing happened. "See I told— " she stopped when her perfect curls unfurled and became frizzy with split ends. Other parts were matted while other strands stuck straight up. "MOM!?" Drew stormed off to Aphrodite's cabin muttering in Greek.

"Next time she says something like that about me, I'm gonna have Poseidon, Athena, and Aphrodite backing me up..." Annabeth smirked happily to herself.

**I stared into the lake, wishing somebody would give me a straight answer for once.**

**I wasn't expecting anybody to be looking back at me from the bottom, so my heart skipped a beat when I noticed two teenage girls sitting cross-legged at the base of the pier, about twenty feet below. **

"Naids. There are some pretty cute ones." Marc sighed dreamily.

**They wore blue jeans and shimmering green T-shirts, and their brown hair floated loose around their shoulders as minnows darted in and out. They smiled and waved as if I were a long-lost friend.**

"Which, you kinda were, being a son of Neptune and all." Reyna said.

"Poseidon, Reyna." Frank corrected her. He didn't need to be fully afraid of her now that he was praetor with her.

Reyna face palmed. "Dang it. I knew that to."

"Poseidon is my dad."'Tyson said cheerfully.

**I didn't know what else to do. I waved back.**

**"Don't encourage them," Annabeth warned. "Naiads are terrible flirts."**

**"Naiads," I repeated, feeling completely overwhelmed. "That's it. I want to go home now."**

"To Smelly Gabe?" Liam asked, raising an eyebrow as if he didn't comprehend what he read.

"No. I wouldn't have gone back there." Percy amended.

**Annabeth frowned. "Don't you get it, Percy? You **_**are **_**home. This is the only safe place on earth for kids like us."**

**"You mean, mentally disturbed kids?"**

"Only Faith is a mentally disturbed kid." Travis joked, shooting the younger girl a grin.

"HEY!" She shouted back, glaring daggers at him. Ryan chuckled, squeezing her hand tighter.

Jonathan laughed. "Don't forget Ryan. He's dating her." Random laughter spurts sounded.

"HEY!" Ryan stopped laughing, smacking Jonathan on the back of the head. Jonathan didn't take it seriously.

"Come on guys." Hazel came to their defense. "Leave em' alone."

**"I mean **_**not human. **_**Not totally human, anyway. Half-human."**

**"Half-human and half-what?"**

"Unicorns." Jason stated flatly. The arena echoed with low chuckles - even Chiron's.

**"I think you know." I didn't want to admit it, but I was afraid I did. I felt a tingling in my limbs, a sensation I sometimes felt when my mom talked about my dad.**

**"God," I said. "Half-god."**

**Annabeth nodded. "Your father isn't dead, Percy. He's one of the Olympians."**

"Unless he was a minor like Hypnos." A Hypnos boy yawned tiredly.

**"That's ... crazy."**

**"Is it? What's the most common thing gods did in the old stories? They ran around falling in love with humans and having kids with them. Do you think they've changed their habits in the last few millennia?"**

"Very unlikely, seeing how we're all here." Tizzy giggled, staring at Liam intently. His hazel eyes caught her for a moment and her stomach fluttered.

**"But those are just—" I almost said **_**myths **_**again. Then I remembered Chiron's warning that in two thousand years, **_**I **_**might be considered a myth.**  
**"But if all the kids here are half-gods—"**

"I'm sure that to mortals you'd end up being a myth about how fugitives blow up their schools or something along those lines." Thalia's nose twitched.

"Or mAybe not."Percy countered.

"Or mAybe yes." Thalia persisted with a grin.

**"Demigods," Annabeth said. "That's the official term. Or half-bloods."**

"Like our t-shirts!" Eliza Marie shouted excitedly, pointing to the custom made, cotton candy turquoise with gold star imprinted Camp Half-Blood t-shirt that Dionysus made special for his little girl. Goes to show Mr D wasn't always an intoxicated pain in the butt.

**"Then who's your dad?"**

**Her hands tightened around the pier railing. I got the feeling I'd just trespassed on a sensitive subject.**

**"My dad is a professor at West Point," she said. "I haven't seen him since I was very small. He teaches American history."**

**"He's human."**

**"What? You assume it has to be a male god who finds a human female attractive? How sexist is that?"**

"Very." Carmen spat bitterly. "I hate it when boys start acting like all that." A zap of electricity made her eyebrows smoke and Carmen coughed, tingling all over.

Thalia frowned. There was only so many time she could zap Carmen to shutup without her heart failing. She was going to have to stop otherwise Carmen might get barbequed.

**"Who's your mom, then?"**

**"Cabin six."**

**"Meaning?"**

**Annabeth straightened. "Athena. Goddess of wisdom and battle."**

"Oh yeah!" Malcolm shouted.

"Athena!" Ryan joined in, cupping his hands like a megaphone. Faith and Jonathan 'wooo'ed with him.

"Athena!" Hannah, 17 year old blonde laughed.

Annabeth laughed playfully with her siblings.

**Okay, I thought. Why not?**

**"And my dad?"**

**"Undetermined," Annabeth said, "like I told you before. Nobody knows."**

**"Except my mother. She knew."**

**"Maybe not, Percy. Gods don't always reveal their identities."**

**"My dad would have. He loved her."**

"Maybe..." Marc whispered after an unnerving silence.

**Annabeth gave me a cautious look. She didn't want to burst my bubble.**  
**"Maybe you're right. Maybe he'll send a sign. That's the only way to know for sure: your father has to send you a sign claiming you as his son. Sometimes it happens."**

"I have a feeling Princess had an idea who Prissy's dad was." Clarisse leaned her head against Chris' shoulder.

**"You mean sometimes it doesn't?"**

"No, Hermes just happens to get laid the most." Danni, an undetermined at that time, scowled annoyed.

**Annabeth ran her palm along the rail. "The gods are busy. They have a lot of kids and they don't always ... Well, sometimes they don't care about us, Percy. They ignore us."**

**I thought about some of the kids I'd seen in the Hermes cabin, teenagers who looked sullen and depressed, as if they were waiting for a call that would never come. I'd known kids like that at Yancy Academy, shuffled off to boarding school by rich parents who didn't have the time to deal with them. But gods should behave better.**

**"So I'm stuck here," I said. "That's it? For the rest of my life?"**

"Quite the contrary Mr. Jackson." Piper said in her best game show host voice.

**"It depends," Annabeth said. "Some campers only stay the summer. If you're a child of Aphrodite or Demeter,you're probably not a real powerful force.**

Annabeth the disappointed stares she was getting.

"Thanks Annabeth." Katie rolled her eyes, trying to with hold a smirk. Katie always did suck at masking her feelings.

"Yeah." Piper smiled sarcastically.

"Forgive me?" Annabeth pleaded to her friends.

Katie and Piper shared smile. "Forgiven."

**The monsters might ignore you, so you can get by with a few months of summer training and live in the mortal world the rest of the year. But for some of us, it's too dangerous to leave. We're year-rounders. In the mortal world, we attract monsters. They sense us. They come to challenge us. Most of the time, they'll ignore us until we're old enough to cause trouble—about ten or eleven years old, but after that, most demigods either make their way here, or they get killed off. A few manage to survive in the outside world and become famous. Believe me, if I told you the names, you'd know them. Some don't even realize they're demigods. But very, very few are like that."**

**"So monsters can't get in here?"**

**Annabeth shook her head. "Not unless they're intentionally stocked in the woods or specially summoned by somebody on the inside."**

**"Why would anybody want to summon a monster?"**

"Oh, you know. Luke trying to kill me and what not." Percy muttered sourly.

**"Practice fights. Practical jokes."**

**"Practical jokes?"**

"That would be: Leo, Marc, Jonathan, and the Stolls." Liam monologued, memorizing the top five culprits.

**"The point is, the borders are sealed to keep mortals and monsters out. From the outside, mortals look into the valley and see nothing unusual, just a strawberry farm."**

"All thanks to my amazing pine tree." Thalia beamed.

Rachel gave Thalia a hug from behind.

"Pinecone Face." Percy grinned, earning a punch from the daughter of Zeus.

**"So ... you're a year-rounder?"**

**Annabeth nodded. From under the collar of her T-shirt she pulled a leather necklace with five clay beads of different colors. It was just like Luke's, except Annabeth's also had a big gold ring strung on it, like a college ring.**

"What the heck is a college ring?" Hazel asked.

"Just a regular ring." Annabeth answered.

"Why is it called a 'college' ring?"

"I ...don't know."

**"I've been here since I was seven," she said. "Every August, on the last day of summer session, you get a bead for surviving another year. I've been here longer than most of the counselors, and they're all in college."**

**"Why did you come so young?"**

**She twisted the ring on her necklace. "None of your business."**

"Sassy! I like it." Leo raised his eyebrow as, sneaking a kiss onto Reyna's cheek.

**"Oh." I stood there for a minute in uncomfortable silence. "So ... I could just walk out of here right now if I wanted to?" **

**"It would be suicide, but you could, with Mr. D's or Chiron's permission. But they wouldn't give permission until the end of the summer session unless ..."**

**"Unless?"**

**"You were granted a quest. But that hardly ever happens. The last time …"**  
**Her voice trailed off. I could tell from her tone that the last time hadn't gone well.**

**"Back in the sick room," I said, "when you were feeding me that stuff—"**

**"Ambrosia."**

**"Yeah. You asked me something about the summer solstice."**

**Annabeth's shoulders tensed. "So you **_**do **_**know something?"**

**"Well... no. Back at my old school, I overheard Grover and Chiron talking about it. Grover mentioned the summer solstice. He said something like we didn't have much time, because of the deadline. What did that mean?"**

**She clenched her fists. "I wish I knew. Chiron and the satyrs, they know, but they won't tell me. Something is wrong in Olympus, something pretty major. Last time I was there, everything seemed so **_**normal**_**."**

**"You've been to Olympus?"**

**"Some of us year-rounders—Luke and Clarisse and I and a few others—we took a field trip during winter solstice. That's when the gods have their big annual council."**

"I wish I got to go, but I'm not a year rounder." Faith sulked bitterly.

"But you got to go during the Titan War." Pollux reminded her.

She snorted. "Yeah. When he entire place was in ruins."

**"But how did you get there?"**

**"The Long Island Railroad, of course. You get off at Penn Station. Empire State Building, special elevator to the six hundredth floor." She looked at me like she was sure I must know this already.**

**"You **_**are **_**a New Yorker, right?"**

**"Oh, sure." As far as I knew, there were only a hundred and two floors in the Empire State Building, but I decided not to point that out.**

**"Right after we visited," Annabeth continued, "the weather got weird, as if the gods had started fighting. A couple of times since, I've overheard satyrs talking. The best I can figure out is that something important was stolen.**  
**And if it isn't returned by summer solstice, there's going to be trouble. When you came, I was hoping ... I mean— Athena can get along with just about anybody, except for Ares. And of course she's got the rivalry with Poseidon. But, I mean, aside from that, I thought we could work together. I thought you might know something."**

"of course he does, because he's Percy Jackson." Chris noted dryly.

**I shook my head. I wished I could help her, but I felt too hungry and tired and mentally overloaded to ask any more questions. **

**"I've got to get a quest," Annabeth muttered to herself. "I'm **_**not **_**too young. If they would just tell me the problem …"**

**I could smell barbecue smoke coming from somewhere nearby. Annabeth must've heard my stomach growl. She told me to go on, she'd catch me later.**  
**I left her on the pier, tracing her finger across the rail as if drawing a battle plan.**

"Actually, someone had carved a cat into the wood on the pier and I was tracing that." Annabeth admitted.

** Back at cabin eleven, everybody was talking and horsing around, waiting for dinner. For the first time, I noticed that a lot of the campers had similar features: sharp noses, upturned eyebrows, mischievous smiles. **

**They were the kind of kids that teachers would peg as troublemakers. Thankfully, nobody paid much attention to me as I walked over to my spot on the floor and plopped down with my minotaur horn.**

**The counselor, Luke, came over. He had the Hermes family resemblance, too. It was marred by that scar on his right cheek, but his smile was intact.**  
**"Found you a sleeping bag," he said. "And here, I stole you some toiletries from the camp store." **

**I couldn't tell if he was kidding about the stealing part.**

"He was serious. We had to take a shift that day for 'misconduct.'" Conner used air quotes. Christine giggled behind him, and he prayed to Hermes and Iris that they were meant to be together. Wait. Maybe he should be asking Aphrodite...

**I said, "Thanks."**

**"No prob." Luke sat next to me, pushed his back against the wall. "Tough first day?"**

**"I don't belong here," I said. "I don't even believe in gods."**

**"Yeah," he said. "That's how we all started. Once you start believing in them? It doesn't get any easier."**

**The bitterness in his voice surprised me, because Luke seemed like a pretty easygoing guy. He looked like he could handle just about anything.**

Annabeth sighed sadly while Thalia's chest clenched.

**"So your dad is Hermes?" I asked.**

**He pulled a switchblade out of his back pocket, and for a second I thought he was going to gut me, but he just scraped the mud off the sole of his sandal. "Yeah. Hermes."**

"He tried that more than once with Backbiter." Percy grumbled, a little angry how Annabeth was staring at Liam and the book so intensely.

**"The wing-footed messenger guy."**

**"That's him. Messengers. Medicine. Travelers, merchants, thieves. Anybody who uses the roads. That's why you're here, enjoying cabin eleven's hospitality. Hermes isn't picky about who he sponsors." **

**I figured Luke didn't mean to call me a nobody. He just had a lot on his mind.**  
**"You ever meet your dad?" I asked.**

**"Once."**

**I waited, thinking that if he wanted to tell me, he'd tell me. Apparently, he didn't. I wondered if the story had anything to do with how he got his scar.**

"Wait. How did Zoë die by the dragon's cut and Luke didn't?" Phoebe demanded harshly. She had been silent for the past few chapters.

Everyone shrugged, unable to answer.

**Luke looked up and managed a smile. "Don't worry about it, Percy. The campers here, they're mostly good people. After all, we're extended family, right? We take care of each other."**

"I'll remember that later on." Jonathan growled.

**He seemed to understand how lost I felt, and I was grateful for that, because an older guy like him—even if he was a counselor—should have steered clear of an uncool middle-schooler like me. But Luke had welcomed me into the cabin. He'd even stolen me some toiletries, which was the nicest thing anybody had done for me all day.**

"Ah yes. Because nothing says 'you're cool' like stolen deodorant and toothpaste." Marshal brought up, earning some laughs.

"More like 'take a bath'" Tizzy giggled, more people laughing now.

Percy whirled around. "FYI Tizzy, I happen to love baths." He grinned at her. Tizzy giggled harder, blushing when Liam smiled at her.

**I decided to ask him my last big question, the one that had been bothering me all afternoon. "Clarisse, from Ares, was joking about me being 'Big Three' material. Then Annabeth ... twice, she said I might be 'the one.' She said I should talk to the Oracle. What was that all about?"**

**Luke folded his knife. "I hate prophecies."**

**"What do you mean?"**

**His face twitched around the scar. "Let's just say I messed things up for everybody else. The last two years, ever since my trip to the Garden of the Hesperides went sour, Chiron hasn't allowed any more quests. Annabeth's been dying to get out into the world. She pestered Chiron so much he finally told her he already knew her fate. He'd had a prophecy from the Oracle. He wouldn't tell her the whole thing, but he said Annabeth wasn't destined to go on a quest yet. She had to wait until...somebody special came to the camp."**

"Thanks alot for my rep, Luke." Liam muttered resentful.

**"Somebody special?"**

**"Don't worry about it, kid," Luke said. "Annabeth wants to think every new camper who comes through here is the omen she's been waiting for. Now, come on, it's dinnertime."**

**The moment he said it, a horn blew in the distance. Somehow, I knew it was a conch shell, even though I'd never heard one before.**

"Poseidon." Reyna said, though she had to catch herself before saying Neptune.

"Excellent, Roman!" Leo praised Reyna, squeezing her hand.

"Silence, Greek." She retorted, finally cracking a smile.

Gasping, Leo got to his feet. "Everyone! I made Reyna laugh! Valdez rules! He's so smexy!"

Reyna blushed embarrassingly at all the kids watching her now.

**Luke yelled, "Eleven, fall in!"**

**The whole cabin, about twenty of us, filed into the commons yard. We lined up in order of seniority, so of course I was dead last. Campers came from the other cabins, too, except for the three empty cabins at the end, and cabin eight, which had looked normal in the daytime, but was now starting to glow silver as the sun went down.**

"Artemis." Carmen gasped.

"Artemis." Phoebe nodded appreciatively.

**We marched up the hill to the mess hall pavilion. Satyrs joined us from the meadow. Naiads emerged from the canoeing lake. A few other girls came out of the woods—and when I say out of the woods, I mean **_**straight **_**out of the woods. I saw one girl, about nine or ten years old, melt from the side of a ****maple tree and come skipping up the hill.**

**In all, there were maybe a hundred campers, a few dozen satyrs, and a dozen assorted wood nymphs and naiads.**

**At the pavilion, torches blazed around the marble columns. A central fire burned in a bronze brazier the size of a bathtub. Each cabin had its own table, covered in white cloth trimmed in purple. Four of the tables were empty, but cabin eleven's was way overcrowded. I had to squeeze onto the edge of a bench with half my butt hanging off.**

**I saw Grover sitting at table twelve with Mr. D, a few satyrs, and a couple of plump blond boys who looked just like Mr. D.**

"It was kind of scary." Grover shuddered.

**Chiron stood to one side, the picnic table being way too small for a centaur.**  
**Annabeth sat at table six with a bunch of serious-looking athletic kids, all with her gray eyes and honey-blond hair.**

"What!? I was there and I'm the only brunette with blue eyes! How could you miss me!?" Ryan exclaimed, feeling slightly outraged.

Percy shrugged defiantly. "I'm not sure. Sorry buddy. If it helps your conscience, I did see you."

"I hope so." Ryan leaned against Faith who giggled softly, planting a gentle kiss on his lips. Jonathan jokingly made a gag face.

**Clarisse sat behind me at Ares's table. She'd apparently gotten over being hosed down, because she was laughing and belching right alongside her friends.**

"What!?" Clarisse started turning red from the look Chris gave her. "That is false pretense."

**Finally, Chiron pounded his hoof against the marble floor of the pavilion, and everybody fell silent. He raised a glass. "To the gods!"**

**Everybody else raised their glasses. "To the gods!"**

**Wood nymphs came forward with platters of food: grapes, apples, strawberries, cheese, fresh bread, and yes, barbecue! My glass was empty, but Luke said, "Speak to it. Whatever you want—nonalcoholic, of course."**

**I said, "Cherry Coke."**

**The glass filled with sparkling caramel liquid.**

**Then I had an idea. "**_**Blue **_**Cherry Coke."**

**The soda turned a violent shade of cobalt.**

**I took a cautious sip. Perfect.**

**I drank a toast to my mother.**

"I can't believe how many blue cookies he made me eat..." Rachel groaned, feeling a little nauseated.

"Calm thoughts Rachel." Hazel soothed.

"Eyes on the horizon." Frank added.

"There is no horizon." Rachel pointed out.

**She's not gone, I told myself. Not permanently, anyway. She's in the Underworld. And if that's a real place, then someday...**

**"Here you go, Percy," Luke said, handing me a platter of smoked brisket.**

**I loaded my plate and was about to take a big bite when I noticed everybody getting up, carrying their plates toward the fire in the center of the pavilion. I wondered if they were going for dessert or something. **

**"Come on," Luke told me.**

**As I got closer, I saw that everyone was taking a portion of their meal and dropping it into the fire, the ripest strawberry, the juiciest slice of beef, the warmest, most buttery roll.**

**Luke murmured in my ear, "Burnt offerings for the gods. They like the smell."**  
**"You're kidding."**

**His look warned me not to take this lightly, but I couldn't help wondering why an immortal, all-powerful being would like the smell of burning food.**

**Luke approached the fire, bowed his head, and tossed in a cluster of fat red grapes. "Hermes." **

**I was next.**

**I wished I knew what god's name to say.**

**Finally, I made a silent plea. **_**Whoever you are, tell me. Please. **_**I scraped a big slice of brisket into the flames. ****When I caught a whiff of the smoke, I didn't gag.**

**It smelled nothing like burning food. It smelled of hot chocolate and fresh-baked brownies, hamburgers on the grill and wildflowers, and a hundred other good things that shouldn't have gone well together, but did. I could almost believe the gods could live off that smoke.**

**When everybody had returned to their seats and finished eating their meals, Chiron pounded his hoof again for our attention.**

**Mr. D got up with a huge sigh. ****"Yes, I suppose I'd better say hello to all you brats. Well, hello. Our activities director, Chiron, says the next capture the flag is Friday. Cabin five presently holds the laurels."**

"Not any more!" Andrew, a competitive 18 year old son of Apollo remarked. Apollo had the laurels from the last game.

**A bunch of ugly cheering rose from the Ares table.**

**"Personally," Mr. D continued, "I couldn't care less, but congratulations. Also, I should tell you that we have a new camper today. Peter Johnson."**

**Chiron murmured something.**

**"Er, Percy Jackson," Mr. D corrected. "That's right. Hurrah, and all that. Now run along to your silly campfire. Go on."**

**Everybody cheered. We all headed down toward the amphitheater, where Apollo's cabin led a sing-along.**

"I was hiding the whole time." Faith murmured.

"Typical." Piper smiled.

"What?"

"You still hide so you don't have to lead the sing alongside since you're a counselor."

"Oh. Right."

**We sang camp songs about the gods and ate s'mores and joked around, and the funny thing was, I didn't feel that anyone was staring at me anymore. I felt that I was home.**

**Later in the evening, when the sparks from the campfire were curling into a starry sky, the conch horn blew again, and we all filed back to our cabins. I didn't realize how exhausted I was until I collapsed on my borrowed sleeping bag.**

"Better hope it wasn't Travis'. You'd be picking fleas outta your clothes for a week." Liam attempted to joke. Tizzy giggled a little and so did a few others. Travis just glared at him. And down went his self esteem.

**My fingers curled around the Minotaur's horn. I thought about my mom, but I had good thoughts: her smile, the bedtime stories she would read me when I was a kid, the way she would tell me not to let the bedbugs bite.**

**When I closed my eyes, I fell asleep instantly.**

**That was my first day at Camp Half-Blood. ****I wish I'd known how briefly I would get to enjoy my new home.**  
**  
**

Liam closed the book, relived to be done because he felt like crying. Annabeth noticed this, and rushed forward to give him a hug. Liam wrapped his arms around her neck, sobbing into her shirt.

* * *

**poor Liam! Honestly, I usually never get attached to OCs since they're technically not part of the original story, but I really love Liam for some reason. If you love Liam, then review! If you hate Liam, review tell me why.**

**:D **

**~ Pinkfan-Gurl out**


	10. A Plan to Get Me Pulverized

**Ω Dear readers, I am so glad so many of you are enjoying this story. Unfortunately, updates arnt going to be as frequent because I am almost out of pre-typed chapters and I'll have to spend an annoying amount of time typing them out, unless however, if any of you guys had a copy of the _Lightning Thief_ and were willing to type out a few chapters, that would be most helpful. ;) thanks. Ω **

**Sunny daughter of Apollo and Ember daughter of Hephaestus belong to LiteBryte**

* * *

**Chapter Eight: A Plan to Get Me Pulverized**

Annabeth sank to her knees, Liam still hugging onto her waist and crying. Thalia Percy, Hazel and Tizzy jumped to their feet. Stroking Liam's sandy blonde hair with one hand, Annabeth motioned for her friends to sit down with he other. Percy, Thalia, and Hazel reluctantly sat back down, but Tizzy leapt expertly over the first row of spectators, stumbling into a roll when she hit the ground.

Liam hesitantly glance up sniffling, eyes bloodshot and cheeks flushed from crying. His hazel eyes landed on Tizzy and Chiron, who were hurrying toward where he and Annabeth were sitting. Liam whimpered, suddenly aware of everyone watching how childish he was being. Annabeth's grip around him tightened as she continued to stroke his hair.

"Shhh..." the daughter of Athena whispered sweetly and gently. "It's okay." Liam sniffled into her now damp orange t-shirt. Ever since the 12 year old Hermes boy got to camp, she had tried to avoid him because he was causing her painful memories. Thalia did too. Only now did she realize that she was hurting him more. This was a second chance to save Luke; by saving his younger brother who had as much potential as he had.

Chiron cantered up, Tizzy riding side saddled on his back. Her almond eyes were filled with concern as she slid off Chiron's white flank. As soon as the sole of her boots hit the ground, she bolted over to Liam's side, where Annabeth continued to rock him back and forth soothingly. She placed a tentative hand on his shoulder and he tensed momentarily. Tizzy recoiled her hand, pain flashing across her features. "Is he alright?"

Annabeth forced a smile. "He'll be just fine." She glanced up at Chrion. The centaur was scratching his beard in thought. "Maybe he should rest at the infirmary..."

Chiron nodded numbly. "That would certainly do the boy some good. Tiaandra," he addressed Tizzy, "would you escort Liam to the infirmary and see to it that he recovers?"

Tizzy stopped fiddling nervously with her frizzy hair, immediately brightening. The Hephaestus girl nodded, trying to bite back an extatic grin. She already had an idea to what had happened. "Yes, sir." Tizzy easily scrambled up onto Chiron's back.

Annabeth struggled to her feet, hauling Liam up with her as he wrapped his legs around her torso. She gasped softly to herself at how skinny and light-weight he actually was despite his healthy, handsome appearance. She and Tizzy worked together to get a limp Liam up onto Chiron's back. Tizzy sat behind him, holding onto his waist, making sure he wouldn't fall off as he slowly drifted toward unconciousness. Chiron motioned for Annabeth to carry on without them as he galloped toward the infirmary.

Annbeth stood awkwardly in the center of the ampitheatre. All eyes were on her, and she coud relate as to why everyone was so relieved when thier turn was over. Her shirt was still damp, but the the warm day was drying it fast. She stooped down, scooping the fallen book into her hands. Brushing loose soil from off the cover, she locked her grey eyes on a pair of sea green ones.

Percy's carefree mood was gone—his expression was hard and unreadable. Yet, Annabeth coud tell by that one look that they had reached a silent agreement. Liam needed friends that could offer emotional and moral support other than Tizzy.

Her eyes flicked to Thaia, who looked hearbroke. Annabeth could tell that she wanted to help Liam, to make up fo not being able to help Luke. Tears glinted in her bright blue eyes as she rested her head on Piper's shouder. Piper ruffled Thalia's choppy black hair in a soothing, friendly way. Jason took his sister's hand and gave it a squeeze.

Seeing as how Annabeth had to read the next chapter by default, she got into a comfortable position on the stump and carried on with chapter eight without Chiron being there just as he had instructed her.

**Chapter Eight: We Capture a Flag**

**The next few days I settled into a routine that felt almost normal, if you don't count the fact that I was getting lessons from satyrs, nymphs, and a centaur. ****Each morning I took Ancient Greek from Annabeth, ****and we talked about the gods and goddesses in the present tense, which was kind of weird.**

"Trust me, it was weird for everyone at first." Travis tried lifting the mood, fully aware that his resentment towards his brother probably helped lead to this.

"Wasn't for me," Danny from Ares commented smugly. "I always knew i was better than everyone at my school so it only made sense."

"Shut up!" Clarisse hissed at her half brother, resting her head on her hands.

**I discovered Annabeth was right about my dyslexia: Ancient Greek wasn't that hard for me to read. At least, no harder than English.**

"I haven't read any Greek for awhile now, actually. I'm probably a little rusty." Percy pivoted his neck on his shoulders, trying to dissipate the numbness of it.

"I'm sure thats the case." Christine snorted.

Percy whipped around. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Well," Christine sat up a bit straighter, "if you were able to read Greek before you studied it, you can probably still read it easliy."

Percy nodded thoughtfully. "Touche.'"

**After a couple of mornings, I could stumble through a few lines of Homer without too much headache.**

"Ha. I knew I was't that good at Greek my first week." Percy mumbled.

Tyson laughed heartily. "Greek and week rymes!"

Katie cracked a grin. "Everyone has been ryming today it seems like."

**The rest of the day, I'd rotate through outdoor activities, looking for something I was good at. Chiron tried to teach me archery, ****but we found out pretty quick I wasn't any good with a bow and arrow. **

"Haha! I was practicing that day! You really were awful!" Jonathan commented at Percy.

Percy rolled his eyes. "Thanks, Jonathan, you're real supportive."

Jonathan grinned sarcastically. "I try." Leo laughed at the comment.

"Wait...i remember now!" Sunny, a 17 year old Apollo girl smiled. She looked similar to how Annabeth looked; average height, nice California tan, curly blonde hair. The only thing that really separated them was their eye color. While Annabeth had unsettling, stormy grey eyes, Sunny had bright blue eyes that couldn't help but make you feel excited whenever they stared at you.

Faith ruffled Sunny's curly hair, knowing that it annoyed her. Sunny slapped at her hands, and Faith laughed to herself.

"Yeah. Didn't you shoot Chiron or something?" Ember asked Percy. Ember was Sunny's half sister, even though Ember is a daughter of Hepaestus—they had the same mother. Ember had gingery-brown hair and chocolatey brown eyes giving her the Hepaestus resemblance. Ember is a little more focused on her activities than Sunny is, who would much rather hang out with the naiads and dryads.

"You didn't let me finish!" Annabeth snapped, blowing some loose pieces of hair out of her face. "I was getting to that part!"

"Sorry..." Ember muttered.

**He didn't complain, even when he had to desnag a stray arrow out of his tail. **

**Foot racing? No good either. The wood-nymph instructors left me in the dust. They told me not to worry about it. They'd had centuries of practice running away from lovesick gods.**

"Juniper..." Grover sighed dreamily to himself.

"AWWE!" Lacy giggled to herself, clutching her stomache from the cuteness overload that had coursed throughout the day. Grover's sweet comment about Juniper finally made her crack.

"Where is Juniper?" Piper asked.

Grover shrugged. "Uhh...hanging out with the naiads...?" his answer came off more as an unsure question, since he wasn't all that sure of where his girlfriend was.

**But still, it was a little humiliating to be slower than a tree.**

**And wrestling? Forget it. Every time I got on the mat, Clarisse would pulverize me.**

"Haha!" Chris kissed the top of Clarisse's hand making her pinken mildly. "That's my girl!"

"_Your_ girl?" a girl of Ares spat at Chris. "She's _my_ sister, punk!"

Clarisse's blood boiled from how her half sister spoke to Chris. "Dee, shut up! Don't talk to my boyfriend like that! And i dont give a chapstick if i'm your sister or not!"

Dee backed down, Clarisse's rage enough to scare any sane person shitless.

The rest of the crowed averted their eyes, as if Clarisse would smash their skulls if they did anything as little as looking at them.

**"There's more where that came from, punk," she'd mumble in my ear.**

**The only thing I really excelled at was canoeing, and that wasn't the kind of heroic skill people expected to see from the kid who had beaten the Minotaur.**

"It was helpful when we had to conoe to Hoover Dam." Thalia reminded him, her mood lifting mildly.

Percy perked up a bit. "Maybe. But it might be because the naiads moved us upstream."

"Naiads?" Annabeth asked suspiciously, attention being torn from the words on the page. Percy shrugged, slightly emabaressed.

Jason took this as a red flag. "I'm sure they just helped because he's the son of Poseidon and naiads are his srvants...i guess. Either way, its cool, Annabeth."

Annabeth's grip on the book relaxed a tad.

Nico grinned mischeiviously. "That or those naiads had HUGE crushes on Percy."

"NICO!" Rachel exclaimed, smacking Nico on the back of the head with her blue plastic hair brush.

"Owww..." Nico rubbed the spot on the back of his head where Rachel had thwackd him. "Why do you have that with you?"

Rachel studied her brush for a second. "In case I need it."

"Why? In case you have a bad hair day?" Frank asked. Frank wasn't a super smart guy when it came to girls, but why else would one carry a hair brush?

"No. In case i need to defend myself." Rachel smirked at the blank stairs she was getting from some campers.

"From unconditioned hair?" Leo tried. He got a few snickers, including a few from Reyna.

Percy grinned. "Its her good luck charm, if you will."

"More like your good luck charm, Perce." Grover grinned.

"Good luck charm?" Reyna wondered. Was it a Greek custom? But Rachel wasn't Greek...

Annabeth laughed. "She threw it at Kronos and saved Percy from becoming spahgetti."

"Oh yeah! I remember that!" Conner excaimed. "Oh my gods, i loved that story."

"I know that I'm amazing." Rachel teased with a slight smile.

**I knew the senior campers and counselors were watching me, trying to decide who my dad was, but they weren't having an easy time of it. **

"I think Silena was guessing that you were an Aphrodite kid, cuz she thought you had the potential. Or something like that." Marshal revealed. It was the first time for awhile that he had brought up his deceased sister. Many Aphrodite campers as well as other campers' faces fell. Silena was an amazing friend and sister.

"I thought he could've been Zeus' kid, although he didn't quite match up all the way." Sunny said, stroking a strand of hair that hugged her face.

"His eyes gave it away, I thought." Annabeth noted. As soon as she had seen him for the first time, she could tell he was somehow related to Poseidon. He had to many similar physical and personality traits in common with him to not be related.

"We can't all be as smart as you, Wise Girl." Percy called over to her. Annabeth rolled her eyes, and continued reading.

**I wasn't as strong as the Ares kids, ****or as good at archery as the Apollo kids.**

**I didn't have Hephaestus's skill with metalwork ****or—gods forbid— Dionysus's way with vine plants. ****Luke told me I might be a child of Hermes, a kind of jack-of-all-trades, master of none.**

"It's not all it's cracked up to be." Marc shouted out, fully convinced his life was harder than that.

"All you guys do is pull pranks and sleep in hammocks." Ryan pointd out to him.

"Do you know how hard it is to set up a hammock?" Conner questined the son of Athena.

"Not really."

"Exactly. We Hermes guys have to spend almost 15 of our precious minutes to set up hammocks." Travis added.

"Oooo!" Eliza Marie scoffed at him. "You're lives are sooooo tuff!" Her tone was surprisingly sarcastic for a six year old. Pollux stifled a laugh. His sister was ridiculous.

Ryan shot a smile at the curly haired girl. "Dude, you just got told off by a toddler. That is not good for your image."

**But I got the feeling he was just trying to make me feel better.**

**He really didn't know what to make of me either. Despite all that, I liked camp. I got used to the morning fog over the beach, the smell of hot strawberry fields in the afternoon, even the weird noises of monsters in the woods at night. I would eat dinner with cabin eleven, scrape part of my meal into the fire, and try to feel some connection to my real dad. Nothing came.**

"I know how tuff that can be." Lacy sniffed sadly. She had waited almost a year upon making it to camp before Aphrodite had claimed her.

**Just that warm feeling I'd always had, like the memory of his smile. I tried not to think too much about my mom, but I kept wondering: if gods and monsters were real, if all this magical stuff was possible, surely there was some way to save her, to bring her back...**

"No..." Nico muttered. "No. No. No. You did not!" His dark eyes widened as Percy suppressed a grin. "You went to the Underworld!?"

Grover bleated nervously. "And it was one of scariest things ever."

"Which is saying alot since you, Perce, and Annabeth have been on some crazy quests." Piper commented. Grover nodded, a playful smile on his chapped lips.

"How'd you get past Cerberus?" Nico asked Percy again.

Hazel leaned forward, interested in the answer. She had passed by her father's pitbull the first time she had died, and Cerberus wasn't—well, she wouldn't want to feed any of that dog's heads by hand, even if she was a ghost at the time.

"Annabeth." Percy answered.

Annabeth's head shot up at the mention of her name, blonde hair flouncing. "I heard my name!"

"Chill, Princess!" Clarisse couldn't help but grin at how reflexsive Annabeth responded when she heard Percy say her name.

"How did you get past Cerberus, Annabeth?" Ember asked eagerly. She had a dog named Bruno. If Annabeth was able to get a man/soul, eating three headed dog guarding Hades to cooperate, then maybe she could help Ember train Bruno to stop peeing in the cabin. Leo was really getting annoyed by Bruno having had an 'accident' on his bunk everytime he came back from Bunker 9.

"A red rubber ball." Annabeth answered. She scrunched her brow, feeling bad suddenly. "I haven't visited him since then. I told him..."

"Red rubber ball." Grover remembered.

"He hated my stick." Percy added, not fully remembering if it was actually was a stick or something else he had randomly picked up in the Underworld.

"Your stick?" Marc questioned.

Annabeth ignored the question. "Nico, next time you visit your dad, take a rubber ball and play fetch with Cerberus for a little while."

Nico nodded slowly, wondering if she was joking. He could tell by the fierce look in her eyes that she was dead serious. "Will do, Annabeth."

"Sweet." Percy grinned.

**I started to understand Luke's bitterness and how he seemed to resent his father, Hermes.**

Everyone shot a look at Percy. Percy raised his hands defensivley. "Hey. I'm on good terms with Poseidon and Olympus. We're good."

**So okay, maybe gods had important things to do. But couldn't they call once in awhile, or thunder, or something?**

Jason scoffed. "Jupiter doesn't, yet he is the god of the sky."

"You mean Zeus." Thalia corrected him.

"No, Jupiter."

"Zeus."

"Jupiter."

Zeus!"

"Jupiter!"

"ZEUS!"

"JUPI—"

Thunder boomed and lightning crackled across the clear blue sky.

"Sorry, dad..." Jason and Thalia muttered at the same time.

"I thought you said your dad never calls." Travis commented sarcastically. Katie shoved him, although she resisted a giggle. She couldn't help smiling, though.

**Dionysus could make Diet Coke appear out of thin air. Why couldn't my dad, whoever he was, make a phone appear?**

"Because phones bring you doom." Frank said.

"I got a phone." a daughter of Hypnos held up an IPhone with a pink case.

"No offense Holly," Leo started sympathetically, "but you're not very powerful."

Reyna chuckled at the annoyed looks the Hypnos' campers were trying to show, but their fatigue dimmed down the intimidation levels of their expressions.

**Thursday afternoon, three days after I'd arrived at Camp Half-Blood, I had my first sword-fighting lesson. Everybody from cabin eleven gathered in the big circular arena, where Luke would be our instructor.**

**We started with basic stabbing and slashing, using some straw-stuffed dummies in Greek armor. I guess I did okay. At least, I understood what I was supposed to do and my reflexes were good.**

**The problem was, I couldn't find a blade that felt right in my hands. Either they were too heavy, or too light, or too long.**

Chiron trotted up to the ampitheatre, resuming his post off to the side of the bleachers where he monitered the Hermes and Apollo campers a little more closely than the other campers.

**Luke tried his best to fix me up, but he agreed that none of the practice blades seemed to work for me.**

**We moved on to dueling in pairs. Luke announced he would be my partner, since this was my first time.**

**"Good luck," one of the campers told me. "Luke's the best swordsman in the last three hundred years."**

"Haha!" Conner laughed to himself. "I said that to him."

"Percy's the best swordsman since Luke." Sunny sighed, twirling a piece of her hair. She had a little crush on Percy, but Annabeth being kind of protective kept her in check.

"I'm the best swordsmen since Luke." Leo protested.

"Yes. I'm sure you are." Reyna huffed sarcastically.

"I'm glad you agree Roman." Leo grinned, sarcastic and proud.

**"Maybe he'll go easy on me," I said.**

**The camper snorted.**

**Luke showed me thrusts and parries and shield blocks the hard way. With every swipe, I got a little more battered and bruised. "Keep your guard up, Percy," he'd say, then whap me in the ribs with the flat of his blade. "No, not that far up!" **_**Whap! **_**"Lunge!" **_**Whap! **_**"Now, back!"**_**Whap!**_

**By the time he called a break, I was soaked in sweat. Everybody swarmed the drinks cooler. Luke poured ice water on his head, which looked like such a good idea, I did the same.**

"Of course he did that subconsciously!" Malcolm exclaimed.

"Yeah. He just happens to dump water on his head, gaining 5 times as much as his original strength, become the only person to have ever disarm Luke, and still have no clue who your dad is." Faith ranted in a single breath.

"Whoa." Ryan looked at her, blue eyes twinkling.

"Wha..?"

"You always get your point across."

"You guys are _toooooo_ cute!" Piper told the two 15 year olds. Faith felt her cheeks heating up as she rested her head on Ryan's shoulder. He was blushing as he pulled her closer.

"Piper...you feeling okay?" Ember asked the Aphrodite girl.

Piper scolded herself. "Yeah. Darn Aphrodite instincts again."

"Thats two times in one day Piper." Hazel told her. She had no intention of opening a door for Leo to crack a joke.

"She's right. Would you like to sit down?" Leo asked Piper in an almost perfect imitation of Shrek.

Piper made a move to retort but Chiron had a stern look. "Leo, leave Piper alone. You are very well aware she doesn't like being teased about it."

Jason leaned his head against her shoulder, and Piper subconsciously started playing with tufts of his blonde hair.

**Instantly, I felt better. Strength surged back into my arms. The sword didn't feel so awkward.**

"Here we go." Rachel warned in a joking tone.

**"Okay, everybody circle up!" Luke ordered. "If Percy doesn't mind, I want to give you a little demo."**

**Great, I thought. Let's all watch Percy get pounded.**

**The Hermes guys gathered around. They were suppressing smiles. I figured they'd been in my shoes before and couldn't wait to see how Luke used me for a punching bag. **

Conner and Travis reddened a bit, remembering when Luke had made them look like fools in front of cabin eleven when they first made it to camp.

**He told everybody he was going to demonstrate a disarming technique: how to twist the enemy's blade with the flat of your own sword so that he had no choice but to drop his weapon.**

"He always demonstrated that technique whenever we got a new camper." Marc complained.

"He did?" Percy asked, feeling a little bit back-stabbed. Even though Luke had back stabbed him more than once already.

"Yeah. He just tried making you feel like an idiot in front of everyone when you first get to camp." Ember muttered. She and Sunny were disarmed humiliatingly their 4th day at camp, the day _right before _they were claimed by Apollo and Hepaestus.

**"This is difficult," he stressed. "I've had it used against me. No laughing at Percy, now. **

"Oh my gods!" Rachel snickered. "He actually_ told_ the others _not _to laugh at you?!"

"Rachel!" Annabeth scolded, but couldn't help but laugh.

"I'm sorry! But its true!"

"I know I can always count on you guys to help me raise my self-esteem." Percy commented sarcastically.

"Thats why we're here buddy." Frank smirked, patting Percy on the shoulder from behind.

**Most swordsmen have to work years to master this technique."**

**He demonstrated the move on me in slow motion. Sure enough, the sword clattered out of my hand.**

**"Now in real time," he said, after I'd retrieved my weapon. "We keep sparring until one of us pulls it off. Ready, Percy?"**

**I nodded, and Luke came after me. Somehow, I kept him from getting a shot at the hilt of my sword. My senses opened up. I saw his attacks coming. I countered. I stepped forward and tried a thrust of my own. Luke deflected it easily, but I saw a change in his face. His eyes narrowed, and he started to press me with more force.**

"Poseidon!?" Leo shouted at the sky. "Why must you help him so?"

"Leo, why do you have to be so dramatic?" Reyna asked the curly haired Hapaestus boy, jabbing him in the side with her forefinger.

"'Cuz its fun!" Travis answered for him.

"Was i talking to you?" Reyna's eyes hardend, her expression almost lethal in itself.

"No." Travis answered smugly. "So what?"

"Travis. Shut up!" Katie hissed.

"He's right though." Leo admitted slowly, surprised when Reyna just sighed and snuggled up closer to him.

**The sword grew heavy in my hand. The balance wasn't right. ****I knew it was only a matter of seconds before Luke took me down, so I figured, What the heck?**

**I tried the disarming maneuver.**

**My blade hit the base of Luke's and I twisted, putting my whole weight into a downward thrust.**

_**Clang.**_

**Luke's sword rattled against the stones. ****The tip of my blade was an inch from his undefended chest.**

**The other campers were silent.**

**I lowered my sword. "Um, sorry."**

"Sorry?" Sunny asked, trying not to sound astounded.

"You're joking." Jonathan stated flatly. "I wish i had been here to see that."

"Instead, you were still up in Michigan," Frank pointed out.

"You were in your grandma's basement." Jonathan responded.

Frank and Jonathan shared a smirk. Being almost the only Asian campers, they shared alot of inside jokes and hung out regularly.

**For a moment, Luke was too stunned to speak.**

**"Sorry?" His scarred face broke into a grin. "By the gods, Percy, why are you sorry? Show me that again!"**

"Good."Sunny puffed up her cheeks. Faith, Jonathan, and another sibling named Daniel, started twirling her curly blonde hair. "Faith, Jonathan, Daniel! Knock it off!"

**I didn't want to. The short burst of manic energy had completely abandoned me. But Luke insisted.**

**This time, there was no contest. The moment our swords connected, Luke hit my hilt and sent my weapon skidding across the floor.**

**After a long pause, somebody in the audience said, "Beginner's luck?"**

**Luke wiped the sweat off his brow. He appraised at me with an entirely new interest. "Maybe," he said. "But I wonder what Percy could do with a balanced sword..."**

**Friday afternoon, I was sitting with Grover at the lake, resting from a near-death experience on the climbing wall.**

**Grover had scampered to the top like a mountain goat, but the lava had almost gotten me. My shirt had smoking holes in it. The hairs had been singed off my forearms.**

Hazel stared over at the climbing wall that was still oozing out lava between cracks in the rock. She had tried it once, and her favorite SPQR t-shirt ended up charred. She didn't plan on going on that again anytime time soon. She prefered caring for the pegasi with Lacy and Lou Ellen.

**We sat on the pier, watching the naiads do underwater basket-weaving, until I got up the nerve to ask Grover how his conversation had gone with Mr. D.**

"You decided to wait a week before asking?" Jason asked.

"It wasn't quite a week." Grover came to his friend's defense.

"Yeah. Three days." Percy added.

"How do you know that?" Thalia questioned him.

"Uh..it said so in the book." Grover and Percy answered together.

"Well, okay then." Thalia and Annabeth responded together. The two friends shared a smile then laughed.

**His face turned a sickly shade of yellow.**

"Like squash." Piper mumbled disgusted.

**"Fine," he said. "Just great."**

**"So your career's still on track?"**

**He glanced at me nervously. "Chiron t-told you I want a searcher's license?"**

**"Well... no." I had no idea what a searcher's license was, but it didn't seem like the right time to ask."He just said you had big plans, you know ... and that you needed credit for completing a keeper's assignment. So did you get it?"**

**Grover looked down at the naiads. "Mr. D suspended judgment. He said I hadn't failed or succeeded with you yet, so our fates were still tied together. If you got a quest and I went along to protect you, and we both came back alive, then maybe he'd consider the job complete."**

**My spirits lifted. "Well, that's not so bad, right?"**

_**"Blaa-ha-ha! H**_**e might as well have transferred me to stable-cleaning duty. The chances of you getting a quest... and even if you did, why would you want **_**me **_**along?"**

"Grover...you have to stop undermining yourself." Hazel said, clapping Grover on the back.

Grover smiled. How was he so lucky to have such awesome and supportive friends?

**"Of course I'd want you along!"**

**Grover stared glumly into the water. "Basket-weaving ... Must be nice to have a useful skill."**

**I tried to reassure him that he had lots of talents, but that just made him look more miserable. We talked about canoeing and swordplay for a while, then debated the pros and cons of the different gods. Finally, I asked him about the four empty cabins.**

**"Number eight, the silver one, belongs to Artemis," he said. "She vowed to be a maiden forever. So of course, no kids. The cabin is, you know, honorary. If she didn't have one, she'd be mad."**

Phoebe shuttered. "If Artemis isn't happy, ain't nobody happy."

"Ain't that the truth." Thalia agreed.

**"Yeah, okay. But the other three, the ones at the end. Are those the Big Three?"**

**Grover tensed. We were getting close to a touchy subject. "No. One of them, number two, is Hera's," he said. "That's another honorary thing. She's the goddess of marriage, so of course she wouldn't go around having affairs with mortals. ****That's her husband's job. ****When we say the Big Three, we mean the three powerful brothers, the sons of Kronos."**

**"Zeus, Poseidon, Hades."**

Everyone turned their attention on Nico, Hazel, Percy, Jason, and Thalia.

"It's not our fault!" Percy insisted, even though a few people continued to give him skeptical looks.

**"Right. You know. After the great battle with the Titans, they took over the world from their dad and drew lots to decide who got what."**

**"Zeus got the sky," I remembered. "Poseidon the sea, Hades the Underworld."**

"Hades was more like banished to the Underworld." Nico frowned.

**"Uh-huh."**

**"But Hades doesn't have a cabin here."**

"We do now." Hazel tilted her head toward the cabin she shared with Nico when they stayed at camp.

**"No. He doesn't have a throne on Olympus, either. He sort of does his own thing down in the Underworld. If he did have a cabin here ..." Grover shuddered. "Well, it wouldn't be pleasant. Let's leave it at that."**

Grover blushed at the mildly offended looks of the Hades/Pluto kids.

**"But Zeus and Poseidon—they both had, like, a bazillion kids in the myths. Why are their cabins empty?"**

**Grover shifted his hooves uncomfortably.**

**"About sixty years ago, after World War II, the Big Three agreed they wouldn't sire any more heroes. ****Their children were just too powerful. They were affecting the course of human events too much, causing too much carnage. World War II, you know, that was basically a fight between the sons of Zeus and Poseidon on one side, and the sons of Hades on the other. The winning side, Zeus and Poseidon, made Hades swear an oath with them: no more affairs with mortal women. They all swore on the River Styx."**

**Thunder boomed.**

**I said, "That's the most serious oath you can make."**

**Grover nodded.**

**"And the brothers kept their word—no kids?"**

**Grover's face darkened. "Seventeen years ago, Zeus fell off the wagon. ****There was this TV starlet with a big fluffy eighties hairdo—he just couldn't help himself. When their child was born, a little girl named Thalia... well, the River Styx is serious about promises. Zeus himself got off easy because he's immortal, but he brought a terrible fate on his daughter."**

**"But that isn't fair. It wasn't the little girl's fault."**

"Little!?" Thalia exclaimed, clearly annoyed.

"Thal, we're older than you now." Annabeth reminded her friend.

"Heck, I'm older than you now." Jason tugged a strand of Thalia's choppy black hair.

"I should be 22 now, but yet I'm stuck as a 15 year old." Thalia muttered.

"Actually, you're 16. You became a Hunter the morning of your birthday." Percy said, surprised he remembered that detail.

**Grover hesitated. "Percy, children of the Big Three have powers greater than other demigods do. They have a strong aura, a scent that attracts monsters. When Hades found out about the girl, he wasn't too happy about Zeus breaking his oath. Hades let the worst monsters out of Tartarus to torment Thalia. ****A satyr was assigned to be her keeper when she was twelve, but there was nothing he could do. ****He tried to escort her here with a couple of other half-bloods she'd befriended. They almost made it. They got all the way to the top of that hill."**

"Ironic how it was Hades who didn't break his oath." Sunny mumbled.

"Indeed." Chiron nodded.

**He pointed across the valley, to the pine tree where I'd fought the minotaur. "All three Kindly Ones were after them, along with a horde of hellhounds. They were about to be overrun when Thalia told her satyr to take the other two half-bloods to safety while she held off the monsters.**

**She was wounded and tired, and she didn't want to live like a hunted animal. The satyr didn't want to leave her, but he couldn't change her mind, and he had to protect the others. So Thalia made her final stand alone, at the top of that hill. As she died,**

"Not a fun experience." Thalia bit her lower lip as she heard the recount of her final battle from Grover's point of view.

"Wait a minute..." Christine pursed her lips in thought.

"What gorgeous?" Conner asked smoothly.

Christine blushed, twirling her dead straight hair absent mindedly. The persistent Hermes boy was starting to grow on her. "If it was five years before, wouldn't Grover had been the equivalent of a 4th grader when he was dispatched to find Thalia?"

Rachel shook her head. "No. Cause Chiron told Percy that Grover had been the equivalent of a middle school student for the past six years."

Annabeth grinned at the logic Rachel was showing. "Rachel's right. Grover would have been about 13 still."

"Or.." Grover scratched his curly dark hair. "I could have just told Christine that I was 13 in mortal years."

Rachel and Annabeth sighed exasperated.

**Zeus took pity on her. He turned her into that pine tree. Her spirit still helps protect the borders of the valley. That's why the hill is called Half-Blood Hill."**

**I stared at the pine in the distance.**

**The story made me feel hollow, and guilty too. A girl my age had sacrificed herself to save her friends. She had faced a whole army of monsters. Next to that, my victory over the Minotaur didn't seem like much.**

"it's a good start. Surviving the Minotaur is no small feat." Chiron reassured Percy.

Percy waved it off. "It's cool. I saved Olympus."

"We helped you save Olympus Mr. Hero!" Faith snapped at him.

"Young lady. Do you want be grounded?" Percy shot back.

"Oh sure. That'll happen."

"Faith. Percy. Will you stop fighting, please?" Piper asked sweetly, adding some charm speak to her order.

Faith and Percy got that glazed over look in their eyes. Huffing, they both sat quietly.

"I need to learn that." Annabeth grinned to herself.

**I wondered, if I'd acted differently, could I have saved my mother?**

"Probably not, but wishful thinking." An Athena boy commented.

**"Grover," I said, "Have heroes really gone on quests to the Underworld?"**

**"Sometimes," he said. "Orpheus. Hercules. Houdini."**

"Why do they always mention Hercules?" Frank muttered annoyed to himself.

**"And have they ever returned somebody from the dead?"**

**"No. Never. Orpheus came close... . Percy, you're not seriously thinking—"**

**"No," I lied.**

"Very convincing." Chris mused. "My soiled toilet paper could lie better than that."

Every boy burst into laughter—even Percy— at the comment while all the girls (except Ares girls, with the exception of Clarisse) recoiled and gagged at the revolting image.

**I was just wondering. So ... a satyr is always assigned to guard a demigod?"**

**Grover studied me warily. I hadn't persuaded him that I'd really dropped the Underworld idea. "Not always. We go undercover to a lot of schools. We try to sniff out the half-bloods who have the makings of great heroes. If we find one with a very strong aura, like a child of the Big Three, we alert Chiron. He tries to keep an eye on them, since they could cause really huge problems."**

**"And you found me. Chiron said you thought I might be something special."**

**Grover looked as if I'd just led him into a trap. "I didn't... Oh, listen, don't think like that. If you **_**were**_—**you know—you'd never **_**ever **_**be allowed a quest, and I'd never get my license. You're probably a child of Hermes.**

Once again, Grover got a few offended looks, only from the Hermes cabins this time.

**Or maybe even one of the minor gods, like Nemesis, the goddess of revenge. Don't worry, okay?"**

**I got the idea he was reassuring himself more than me.**

**That night after dinner, there was a lot more excitement than usual.**

**At last, it was time for capture the flag.**

"Oh yuss!"' Sunny giggled. "I did a good job in that game."

**When the plates were cleared away, the conch horn sounded and we all stood at our tables.**

**Campers yelled and cheered as Annabeth and two of her siblings ran into the pavilion carrying a silk banner. It was about ten feet long, glistening gray, with a painting of a barn owl above an olive tree.**

"Malcolm," Annabeth pointed to the blonde boy. "And Ryan." She pointed to Ryan. They always helped her lead capture the flag.

**From the opposite side of the pavilion, Clarisse and her buddies ran in with another banner, of identical size, but gaudy red, painted with a bloody spear and a boar's head.**

**I turned to Luke and yelled over the noise, "Those are the flags?"**

"More like banners. Banners advertising Macy's thanksgiving sale." Reyna muttered. Her dark eyes widened when Leo laughed along with many others at her joke. When she stopped to think about it, she giggled a bit at the obvious truth to it.

**"Yeah."**

**"Ares and Athena always lead the teams?"**

**"Not always," he said. "But often."**

**"So, if another cabin captures one, what do you do— repaint the flag?"**

**He grinned. "You'll see. First we have to get one."**

**"Whose side are we on?"**

**He gave me a sly look, as if he knew something I didn't. The scar on his face made him look almost evil in the torchlight. **

"Well that's ironic." Marc spat, a scowl on his face.

**"We've made a temporary alliance with Athena. Tonight, we get the flag from Ares. And **_**you **_**are going to help."**

**The teams were announced. Athena had made an alliance with Apollo and Hermes, the two biggest cabins.**

**Apparently, privileges had been traded—shower times, chore schedules, the best slots for activities—in order to win support.**

**Ares had allied themselves with everybody else: Dionysus, Demeter, Aphrodite, and Hephaestus. From what I'd seen, Dionysus's kids were actually good athletes, but there were only two of them. Demeter's kids had the edge with nature skills and outdoor stuff but they weren't very aggressive. Aphrodite's sons and daughters I wasn't too worried about.**

"What!? We're plenty mean!" Marshal protested.

"Yeah!" A Aphrodite girl around 14 tried to make a vicious face, but her sparkly green eyes and orangy hair made her look more like a barn kitten.

**They mostly sat out every activity and checked their reflections in the lake and did their hair and gossiped. Hephaestus's kids weren't pretty, and there were only four of them, but they were big and burly from working in the metal shop all day. They might be a problem.**

"You bet we're a problem, Jackson!" Leo yelled playfully at Percy.

"Take it easy buddy." Percy smirked back.

**That, of course, left Ares's cabin: a dozen of the biggest, ugliest, meanest kids on Long Island, or anywhere else on the planet.**

"Prissy, you are so asking for a butt whooping." Clarisse growled, feeling deeply insulted.

**Chiron hammered his hoof on the marble.**

**"Heroes!" he announced. "You know the rules. The creek is the boundary line. The entire forest is fair game. All magic items are allowed. The banner must be prominently displayed, and have no more than two guards. Prisoners may be disarmed, but may not be bound or gagged. No killing or maiming is allowed. I will serve as referee and battlefield medic. Arm yourselves!"**

**He spread his hands, and the tables were suddenly covered with equipment: helmets, bronze swords, spears, ox hide shields coated in metal.**

**"Whoa," I said. "We're really supposed to use these?"**

"Unless you wanna get stabbed." Ember noted.

**Luke looked at me as if I were crazy. "Unless you want to get skewered by your friends in cabin five. Here—Chiron thought these would fit. You'll be on border patrol."**

"Border patrol. What an honor." Travis joked.

**My shield was the size of an NBA backboard, with a big caduceus in the middle. It weighed about a million pounds. I could have snowboarded on it fine, but I hoped nobody seriously expected me to run fast. My helmet, like all the helmets on Athena's side, had a blue horse hair plume on top. Ares and their allies had red plumes.**

**Annabeth yelled, "Blue team, forward!"**

**We cheered and shook our swords and followed her down the path to the south woods. The red team yelled taunts at us as they headed off toward the north.**

**I managed to catch up with Annabeth without tripping over my equipment. **

"How adorable, Percy!" Lacy swooned.

**"Hey."**

**She kept marching.**

**"So what's the plan?" I asked. "Got any magic items you can loan me?"**

**Her hand drifted toward her pocket, as if she were afraid I'd stolen something. **

Annabeth smiled down at the paper she was reading. It was funny to look back on how her and Percy's relationship started and see how it progressed. Plus it is friggin hilarious to read Seaweed Brain's thoughts.

**"Just watch Clarisse's spear," she said. "You don't want that thing touching you. Otherwise, don't worry. We'll take the banner from Ares. Has Luke given you your job?"**

**"Border patrol, whatever that means."**

**"It's easy. Stand by the creek, keep the reds away. Leave the rest to me. Athena always has a plan."**

"A plan to get me pulverized." Percy murmured darkly.

**She pushed ahead, leaving me in the dust.**

**"Okay," I mumbled. "Glad you wanted me on your team."**

"Of course she did." Grover stated. Percy pushed him with his shoulder, causing Grover to bleat in delight.

**It was a warm, sticky night. The woods were dark, with fireflies popping in and out of view**_**. **_**Annabeth stationed me next to a little creek that gurgled over some rocks, then she and the rest of the team scattered into the trees.**

"Very perceptive of your surroundings, Percy." Chiron approved.

**Standing there alone, with my big blue-feathered helmet and my huge shield, I felt like an idiot. The bronze sword, like all the swords I'd tried so far, seemed balanced wrong. The leather grip pulled on my hand like a bowling ball.**

**There was no way anybody would actually attack me, would they? I mean, Olympus had to have liability issues, right?**

"Sure they do." Ryan sighed.

**Far away, the conch horn blew. I heard whoops and yells in the woods, the clanking of metal, kids fighting. A blue-plumed ally from Apollo raced past me like a deer, leaped through the creek, and disappeared into enemy territory.**

**Great, I thought. I'll miss all the fun, as usual.**

"Make up your mind!" Hazel whispered softly to herself. "First you're worried about fighting and getting hurt. Now you want to attack straight on."

**Then I heard a sound that sent a chill up my spine, a low canine growl, somewhere close by.**

**I raised my shield instinctively; I had the feeling something was stalking me.**

**Then the growling stopped. I felt the presence retreating.**

"Hellhound!" Everyone shouted.

**On the other side of the creek, the underbrush exploded. Five Ares warriors came yelling and screaming out of the dark.**

**"Cream the punk!" Clarisse screamed.**

**Her ugly pig eyes glared through the slits of her helmet. She brandished a five-foot-long spear, its barbed metal tip flickering with red light. Her siblings had only the standard-issue bronze swords—not that that made me feel any better.**

Percy grinned how he had still thought up jokes even when he was facing Clarisse. He had been really immature. Well, he still is.

**They charged across the stream. There was no help in sight. I could run. Or I could defend myself against half the Ares cabin.**

**I managed to sidestep the first kid's swing, but these guys were not as stupid the Minotaur.**

**They surrounded me, and Clarisse thrust at me with her spear. My shield deflected the point, but I felt a painful tingling all over my body. My hair stood on end. My shield arm went numb, and the air burned.**

**Electricity. Her stupid spear was electric. I fell back.**

"I gots me an electric spear to!" Said Thalia.

**Another Ares guy slammed me in the chest with the butt of his sword and I hit the dirt.**

**They could've kicked me into jelly, but they were too busy laughing.**

**"Give him a haircut," Clarisse said. "Grab his hair."**

**I managed to get to my feet. I raised my sword, but Clarisse slammed it aside with her spear as sparks flew. Now both my arms felt numb.**

**"Oh, wow," Clarisse said. "I'm scared of this guy. Really scared."**

Clarrise stifled a laugh. "Sorry 'bout that Jackson."

"It's cool, La Rue."

**"The flag is that way," I told her. I wanted to sound angry, but I was afraid it didn't come out that way.**

**"Yeah," one of her siblings said. "But see, we don't care about the flag. We care about a guy who made our cabin look stupid."**

**"You do that without my help," I told them. It probably wasn't the smartest thing to say.**

The camp echoed with chuckling.

**Two of them came at me. I backed up toward the creek, ****I tried to raise my shield, but Clarisse was too fast. Her spear stuck me straight in the ribs. If I hadn't been wearing an armored breastplate, I would've been shish-kebabbed. As it was, the electric point just about shocked my teeth out of my mouth. One of her cabinmates slashed his sword across my arm, leaving a good-size cut.**

**Seeing my own blood made me dizzy—warm and cold at the same time.**

"Zeus almighty, i cannot see blood. I will pass out." Katie stuttered a bit, the hairs on her arms sticking up.

**"No maiming," I managed to say.**

**"Oops," the guy said. "Guess I lost my dessert privilege."**

**He pushed me into the creek and I landed with a splash.**

**They all laughed. I figured as soon as they were through being amused, I would die. But then something happened. The water seemed to wake up my senses, as if I'd just had a bag of my mom's double-espresso jelly beans.**

**Clarisse and her cabinmates came into the creek to get me, but I stood to meet them. I knew what to do. I swung the flat of my sword against the first guy's head and knocked his helmet clean off. I hit him so hard I could see his eyes vibrating as he crumpled into the water.**

"Son of Poseidon." Jason and Percy fist bumped.

**Ugly Number Two and Ugly Number Three came at me. I slammed one in the face with my shield and used my sword to shear off the other guy's horsehair plume. Both of them backed up quick. Ugly Number Four didn't look really anxious to attack, but Clarisse kept coming, the point of her spear crackling with energy. As soon as she thrust, I caught the shaft between the edge of my shield and my sword, and I snapped it like a twig.**

**"Ah!" she screamed. "You idiot! You corpse-breath worm!"**

**She probably would've said worse, but I smacked her between the eyes with my sword-butt and sent her stumbling backward out of the creek.**

**Then I heard yelling, elated screams, and I saw Luke racing toward the boundary line with the red team's banner lifted high. He was flanked by a couple of Hermes guys covering his retreat, and a few Apollos behind them, fighting off the Hephaestus kids. The Ares folks got up, and Clarisse muttered a dazed curse.**

**"A trick!" she shouted. "It was a trick."**

Annabeth shrugged innocently. "Athena always has a plan."

"Yeah she does!" Jonathan shouted.

"You're not even from Athena." Ember pointed out.

Jonathan shrugged. "Can't I be supportive toward everyone?"

"Even a son of Hades?" Nico asked, curious about his response.

Jonathan nudged Faith. "Specifically a son of Hades." The siblings said together. Faith smiled at Nico.

Nico felt his heart skip a beat, and his stomache flutter. He desperately hoped he wasn't blushing.

**They staggered after Luke, but it was too late. Everybody converged on the creek as Luke ran across into friendly territory. Our side exploded into cheers. The red banner shimmered and turned to silver. The boar and spear were replaced with a huge caduceus, the symbol of cabin eleven. Everybody on the blue team picked up Luke and started carrying him around on their shoulders. Chiron cantered out from the woods and blew the conch horn.**

**The game was over. We'd won.**

**I was about to join the celebration when Annabeth's voice, right next to me in the creek, said, "Not bad, hero."**

**I looked, but she wasn't there.**

"Yankee cap. Called it." Clarisse yelled half a second before Grover and Percy.

**"Where the heck did you learn to fight like that?" she asked. The air shimmered, and she materialized, holding a Yankees baseball cap as if she'd just taken it off her head.**

**I felt myself getting angry. I wasn't even fazed by the fact that she'd just been invisible. "You set me up," I said. "You put me here because you knew Clarisse would come after me, while you sent Luke around the flank. You had it all figured out."**

**Annabeth shrugged. "I told you. Athena always, always has a plan."**

"Said so." Annabeth smirked.

**"A plan to get me pulverized."**

"Well, I said so too, Wise Girl."

**"I came as fast as I could. I was about to jump in, but ..." She shrugged. "You didn't need help." ****Then she noticed my wounded arm. "How did you do that?"**

**"Sword cut," I said. "What do you think?"**

**"No. It **_**was **_**a sword cut. Look at it."**

**The blood was gone. Where the huge cut had been, there was a long white scratch, and even that was fading. As I watched, it turned into a small scar, and disappeared.**

**"I—I don't get it," I said.**

"Honestly, when arnt you clueless?" Thalia asked.

**Annabeth was thinking hard. ****I could almost see the gears turning. She looked down at my feet, then at Clarisse's broken spear, and said, "Step out of the water, Percy."**

**"What—"**

**"Just do it."**

**I came out of the creek and immediately felt bone tired. My arms started to go numb again. My adrenaline rush left me. I almost fell over, but Annabeth steadied me. **

**"Oh, Styx," she cursed. "This is **_**not **_**good. I didn't want... I assumed it would be Zeus..."**

Jason laughed. "I always wanted a brother!" He joked.

Percy picked up on the charade. "Me too, brother."

"JASON IS OUR BROTHER!?" Tyson repeated excited.

"You guys just dug a deep hole." Reyna managed.

**Before I could ask what she meant, I heard that canine growl again, but much closer than before. A howl ripped through the forest.**

**The campers' cheering died instantly. Chiron shouted something in Ancient Greek, which I would realize, only later, I had understood perfectly: "**_**Stand ready**_**!** _**My bow**_**!"**

**Annabeth drew her sword.**

**There on the rocks just above us was a black hound the size of a rhino, with lava-red eyes and fangs like daggers.**

**It was looking straight at me.**

**Nobody moved except Annabeth, who yelled, "Percy, run!"**

"Love conquered fear...awee!" Iridessa from Iris swooned— she spent alot of time with Aphrodite campers.

**She tried to step in front of me, but the hound was too fast. It leaped over her—an enormous shadow with teeth—and just as it hit me, as I stumbled backward and felt its razor-sharp claws ripping through my armor, there was a cascade of thwacking sounds, like forty pieces of paper being ripped one after the other. From the hounds neck sprouted a cluster of arrows. The monster fell dead at my feet.**

Sunny sniffed. "Micheal had killed that by himself. He shot about 9 arrows at once." The blonde girl suddenly missed her brother Micheal Yew very much.

**By some miracle, I was still alive. I didn't want to look underneath the ruins of my shredded armor. My chest felt warm and wet, and I knew I was badly cut. Another second, and the monster would've turned me into a hundred pounds of delicatessen meat.**

**Chiron trotted up next to us, a bow in his hand, his face grim.**

_**"Di immortales!"**_**Annabeth said. "That's a hellhound from the Fields of Punishment. They don't... they're not supposed to..."**

"Mrs O' Leary is nice." Tyson smiled, thinking of he and Percy's dog.

**"Someone summoned it," Chiron said. "Someone inside the camp."**

**Luke came over, the banner in his hand forgotten, his moment of glory gone.**

"What a faker." Eliza Marie pouted.

**Clarisse yelled, "It's all Percy's fault! Percy summoned it!"**

"Sure. Blame everything on the super cool guy." Percy complained dramatically.

**"Be quiet, child," Chiron told her.**

**We watched the body of the hellhound melt into shadow, soaking into the ground until it disappeared.**

**"You're wounded," Annabeth told me. "Quick, Percy, get in the water."**

**"I'm okay."**

**"No, you're not," she said. "Chiron, watch this."**

**I was too tired to argue. I stepped back into the creek, the whole camp gathering around me.**

**Instantly, I felt better. I could feel the cuts on my chest closing up. Some of the campers gasped.**

**"Look, I—I don't know why," I said, trying to apologize. "I'm sorry..."**

**But they weren't watching my wounds heal. They were staring at something above my head.**

**"Percy," Annabeth said, pointing. "Um ..."**

**By the time I looked up, the sign was already fading, but I could still make out the hologram of green light, spinning and gleaming. A three-tipped spear: a trident.**

"That is really cool." Rachel whispered softly.

**"Your father," Annabeth murmured. "This is **_**really **_**not good."**

"Actually, it is really good." Piper countered.

**"It is determined," Chiron announced.**

**All around me, campers started kneeling, even the Ares cabin, though they didn't look happy about it.**

"We weren't." Havoc from Ares snarled.

**"My father?" I asked, completely bewildered.**

**"Poseidon," said Chiron. "Earth-shaker, Storm-bringer, Father of Horses. Hail, Perseus Jackson, Son of the Sea God."**

Annabeth closed the book, as the arena burst into light conversation between chapters. Annabeth looked up at the sky. It was getting darker and it had been a long day. She figured that only two more chapters would be read before curfew.

* * *

**yeah. I finally finished! 9,415 words people! Oh Hades! Anyways I have only two more pre typed chapters and if anyone would like to help me out, I could use two or three colleagues to help type the chapters **

**Also, I'm sorry, but I'm so lazy so I'm not gonna take OCs anymore. ( I just end up with so many characters! Hard to keep track XD)**

**Okay, I'm done**

**~PFG**


	11. Percy is Best at Ticking Off Olympians

**Hey! Sorry for the slow update. I had to brainstorm, type, and upload the past two chapters of my PPG story. (Yes I like PPG -_- wanna make something of it? It just so happens that Percy owes me favor...) well, there's two more chapters of that story left and then I'll have more time to put towards this one. ~~Yaya!~~**

**This chapter is dedicated to **

**carbarsoccer10 ****& ****Daughter of the Gods**

**;)**

* * *

**Chapter Nine: Percy is the Best at Ticking Off Olympians**

Annabeth patted down some of the frizzy stray hairs that fell out of her braid. After Chiron dismisses everyone for bed, she really was in need of a shower. The daughter of Athena stood up, leaning back to stretch.

"Anyone wanna read next?" Her voice came out a little strained. No one made a move to read. Annabeth frowned. "Don't make me choose someone."

"What makes you think we would even listen?" Leo asked.

"What if I said so?" A voice asked. The camp gasped quietly and Leo shrunk back in his seat a little bit, seemingly to hide behind Reyna. Reyna laughed slightly, but her eyes stayed dead ahead.

Annabeth slowly turned around, not sure of what she was going to see. Her eyes widened and she jumped forward a little recklessly into the outstretched arms of a beautiful woman. She had grey eyes stormy like the sky and hair blacker than night.

Athena smiled into her daughter's soft blond hair. Grasping Annabeth's hands tenderly, she pulled back from the greeting hug. "Annabeth! You're getting so big."

Annabeth smiled, her eyes twinkling. "I've missed you mom."

"Lady Athena." Percy jogged up to the goddess. He bowed respectfully, then shook her hand. Athena smiled back, though she seemed a bit hesitant about the handshake.

"Perseus Jackson," Athena greeted back. She had come to accept the fact that her daughter loved Percy and that Percy loved her daughter. Even though she would have preferred it if Annabeth had found a nice Apollo or Demeter boy.

"Lady Athena," Chiron galloped up to the three, and bowed similar to what Percy had done. "What brings you to our humble camp?"

Athena dipped her head slightly, scanning the faces of the crowd as she rested a hand on Annabeth's shoulder. Except for her gold eyeshadow, she looked fairly normal—she had on blue jeans, heavy duty hiking boots, a brown t-shirt, and a grey hoody over the top. Her black hair was pulled up in a high pony tail.

Athena shrugged. "Dionysus came up to Olympus to take a nap because he complained that all of the ´pesky, rotten, no good demigods´ were being too loud reading their books. If there are books, then Athena will come."

Annabeth felt happy to see her mom, but she was worried about how she might take some of the opinions in the book. "So mom, are you gonna read the next chapter?"

Percy gave her a thumbs up. He was still scared to death that she would send an army of killer owls to kill him, but he tried not to let it show. How sad would it be for the Hero of Olympus to be brave enough to face monsters in Tartarus, but was scared of his girlfriend's mom? Pretty pitiful.

Athena considered the question for a moment, then held her hand out to Annabeth. Annabeth placed the book in her mother's hand. "Very well. I will participate for a chapter. I'll have to scoot afterwards anyway, unfortunately. An officer in Afghanistan is going to need some help shortly."

"Whenever you're ready." Chiron invited generously, before taking up his spot to the side of the bleachers.

"Hi mom." Malcolm waved from his spot. Several other blonde boys and girls waved quietly.

"Children." Athena waved back, a small smile on her lips. She snapped her fingers and a rolly-chair and desk formed in front of her. A pair of grey, rinestoned reading classes materialized on Athena's nose.

"Oy," Piper pinched the bridge of her nose, remembering Dionysus' recliner and her own insanely uncomfortable beach chair. Her eyes itched, so she closed her eyes and rested her head on Jason's shoulder.

Percy took a firm grip on Annabeth's hand, pulling her along toward the bleachers. "Moms home." He the side of his mouth.

Annabeth fought a giggle. "Be nice, Seaweed Brain. I doubt I would keep dating you if Athena turned you into an owl."

"That's cold." Percy whispered back playfully. He swept her off her feet, carrying her bridal style romantically. Annabeth blushed a deep crimson red as most of their friends starting singing the Sitting in a Tree song.

Percy grinned down at how beautiful she looked when she blushed, completely ignoring the disapproving look Athena was showing as she settled into her desk. "Got to keep you on your toes, Wise Girl."

Annabeth blushed again, reaching up to plant a kiss on his cheek.

"You guys are so cute together," Thalia commented as her two friends rejoined her on the stone bleachers.

Percy shot a smirk at the daughter of Zeus. "Thanks. But already knew that." Annabeth yawned, leaning into the crook of Percy's arm. He head on hers.

Athena adjusted her glasses on her nose. She smiled once more at all of her children before she began to read the next chapter.

**Chapter 9: I'm offered a Quest**

**The next morning, Chiron moved me to cabin three.**

**I didn't have to share with anybody. I had plenty of room for all my stuff: the Minotaur's horn, one set of spare clothes, and a toiletry bag. I got to sit at my own dinner table, pick all my own activities, call "lights out" whenever I felt like it, and not listen to anybody else.**

"Having a room all to yourself sounds like a pretty sweet deal." Conner announced, rubbing his hands together. The sun was going down, and CHB got cold fast.

"No, it's really not." Jason countered, stroking Piper's silky brown hair. She must have been really tired— her breaths were even and her eyes were still closed. "You awake?" he murmured quietly to her.

Piper smacked her lips, a smile twitching at her lips. "I'm listening. Don't worry. It's cold."

Jason kissed her head, then used her turquoise hoody to cover up her bare arms.

Athena muttered something to Hestia, then the magical bon fire blazed to life—the color was orange, showing that the crowd was excited.

**And I was absolutely miserable.**

"Being an only child sucks." Nico agreed.

Hazel swatted Nico on the back of the head. "I'm sitting right next to you, jerk!"

"Sorry," Nico apologized, clearly not meaning it.

"Play nice." Rachel scolded them softly.

**Just when I'd started to feel accepted, to feel I had a home in cabin eleven and I might be a normal kid—or as normal as you can be when you're a half-blood—I'd been separated out as if I had some rare disease.**

"Yes. It's called _Being the Son of Poseidon._" Athena muttered dryly.

"Mother!" Annabeth exclaimed, nestling deeper into Percy's t-shirt. Percy pressed his cheek against her soft blonde hair, thinking about how lucky he was to have her as his girlfriend.

**Nobody mentioned the hellhound, but I got the feeling they were all talking about it behind my back. **

"I'll admit it to your face, Percy, I thought you were a freak." Ember revealed, not caring if it offended him or not.

Athena tittered behind the book, pushing her glasses back into place. She couldn't help but find the comment settling even if it was a joke, though she assumed the Hephaestus girl was telling the truth.

"Thanks Ember." Percy replied sarcastically.

"I can see why you're total BFFs." Travis joined in.

"You'd be incomplete without her urge to tell the truth." Leo added, fully aware that his older sister would tell the most absurd lie to save her own butt.

"Valdez!" Ember cried out, embarrassed about him bringing up her truth vs. lies epidemic.

Leo poured in his chair. "Seriously, that's like the eighth time someone has called me Valdez."

"Okay. We'll just call you Bob the Builder from now on." Katie suggested.

"Yes, Katie! You're brilliant!" Travis leaned over and kissed her on the lips. Katie blushed. It was just a nickname.

"You guys are so immature." Clarisse muttered, struggling to keep her eyes open.

Annabeth had a feeling lights out would be called after this chapter after all. Everyone was dropping like flys.

**The attack had scared everybody. It sent two messages: one, that I was the son of the Sea God; and two, monsters would stop at nothing to kill me. They could even invade a camp that had always been considered safe.**

"They only invaded camp because of Luke," Marc spat bitterly.

**The other campers steered clear of me as much as possible. Cabin eleven was too nervous to have sword class with me**

"We weren't nervous!" Conner stammered out a little hesitantly.

"Yeah. It's called Being safe than sorry." Chris added.

"Oy," Clarisse snuggled up closer to Chris. Fatigue was starting to take over her as well.

**after what I'd done to the Ares folks in the woods, so my lessons with Luke became one-on-one. He pushed me harder than ever, and wasn't afraid to bruise me up in the process.**

**"You're going to need all the training you can get," he promised, as we were working with swords and flaming torches. "Now let's try that viper-beheading strike again. Fifty more repetitions."**

"Fifty repetitions?" Grover moaned. That was like 23 times more than when Chiron made him and Percy write out different diagrams to keep names straight and to study in Latin class back at Yancy.

"My thoughts exactly Grover!" Athena huffed, assuming the satyr was on the same wavelength as her. "Luke should have had Percy repeat the routine at least 20 times!"

Grover opened his mouth to say something, but the looks that the Athena campers gave him warned him not to. Instead he mouthed _no_ to Percy who responded with a thumbs up.

**Annabeth still taught me Greek in the mornings, but she seemed distracted. Every time I said something, she scowled at me, as if I'd just poked her between the eyes.**

"Sorry, Seaweed Brain." Annabeth cooed dreamily into his orange shirt.

Percy kissed the top of her head, and her lips curled into a sleepy smile.

Lacy squirmed in her seat from the adorable-ness of it all.

**After lessons, she would walk away muttering to herself: "Quest … Poseidon? … Dirty rotten …****Got to make a plan …"**

**Even Clarisse kept her distance, though her venomous looks made it clear she wanted to kill me for breaking her magic spear.**

"I was. And I probably would still be plotting revenge if Ares hadn't replaced my spear." Clarisse huffed a little annoyed. All the campers who were sitting around her tried scooting at least an inch away.

"Cool it, hot head." Rachel advised her friend.

**I wished she would just yell or punch me or something. I'd rather get into fights every day than be ignored.**

"It's hard to ignore someone like Percy." Frank noted wisely.

"Like you read my mind." Nico agreed.

**I knew somebody at camp resented me, because one night I came into my cabin and found a mortal newspaper dropped inside the doorway,**

"That's why Luke wanted a copy of the newspaper?" An older satyr named Darius asked himself.

"Luke asked for a copy?" Faith spoke up, her voice was demanding and pretty pissed off. Darius nodded. Faith slumped back, her eyes furious.

Ryan, Jonathan, and Bree tried calming her down. When Jonathan bribed her with 25 drachma, she finally cracked a smile.

"I should've figured that out by now!" Percy hissed, a part of his heart that hated Luke opening up again.

Annabeth opened one eye. She blinked once then leaned up to kiss his cheek. She hadn't known about the newspaper at all.

Athena clicked her tongue, then all eyes were on her again.

**a copy of the New York Daily News, opened to the Metro page. The article took me almost an hour to read, because the angrier I got, the more the words floated around on the page.**

Percy clenched the fist he wasn't using to twirl Annabeth's paint brush ends. He really resented the mortal _Eileen Smythe_ for writing the article.

**BOY AND MOTHER STILL MISSING AFTER**

**FREAK CAR ACCIDENT**

**BY EILEEN SMYTHE**

_**Sally Jackson and son Percy are still missing one week after their mysterious disappearance. The family's badly burned '78 Camaro was discovered last Saturday on a north Long Island road with the roof ripped off and the front axle broken. The car had flipped and skidded for several hundred feet before exploding.**_

"Family car?" Thalia snarled, her face twisted in a furious expression.

_**Mother and son had gone for a weekend vacation to Montauk, but left hastily, under mysterious circumstances. Small traces of blood were found in the car and near the scene of the wreck, but there were no other signs of the missing Jacksons. Residents in the rural area reported seeing nothing unusual around the time of the accident.**_

"Because they're all mor—" Riva began to say.

"Don't say mortals, otherwise I'll make sure that you're Apollo's least favorite daughter!" Rachel threatened, referring to the conversation that she had overheard at lunch. Riva gulped. Faith restrained some snorts.

Nico grinned. "Look at that. Rachel _can_ be bad-ass."

Rachel frowned. "Is that an insult or complement?"

"Bad-ass?" Tyson repeated.

Hazel hid her face in her hands. This could _not_ end well.

"Ass is a donkey. Rachel is a donkey?" Tyson had a really worried expression on his face.

Rachel hid her face in her hands, extremely embarrassed.

"Nico! You've corrupted his brother!" Thalia exclaimed. She used the hand gesture in sign language that means shame on you.

"Sorry. . .?" Nico shrugged like he didn't know what to do.

"Tyson. . ." Percy began, but he came short of words. What was he supposed to say?

"Tyson," Hazel cooed in a sympathetic tone, "that word is really bad. You shouldn't say it."

"Nico said it." Tyson pointed to Nico, who waved awkwardly.

Hazel nodded. "He shouldn't say it either." She shot her brother a disappointed stare.

"Oh."

_**Ms. Ja**_**_ckson's_ husband, Gabe Ugliano, claims that his stepson, Percy Jackson, is a troubled child who has been kicked out of numerous boarding schools and has expressed violent tendencies in the past.**

"Once again, so _not_ my fault." Percy defended himself.

Athena pursed her lips, continuing to read.

_**Police would not say whether son Percy is a suspect in his mother's disappearance, ****but they have not ruled out foul play. Below are recent pictures of Sally Jackson and Percy. Police urge anyone with information to call the following toll-free crime-stoppers hotline.**_

**The phone number was circled in black marker.**

"What a jerk." Reyna murmured.

**I wadded up the paper and threw it away, then flopped down in my bunk bed in the middle of my empty cabin.**

**"Lights out," I told myself miserably.**

**That night, I had my worst dream yet.**

"I hope it's about the Candy Land princess." Leo supplied his opinion. Reyna snickered along with Katie and the Stolls.

"Or chocolate bunnies and unicorns." Christine joked. Conner fixed a stare on her, then caught himself drooling, so he refaced the front.

**I was running along the beach in a storm. This time, there was a city behind me. Not New York. The sprawl was different: buildings spread farther apart, palm trees and low hills in the distance.**

**About a hundred yards down the surf, two men were fighting. They looked like TV wrestlers, muscular, with beards and long hair. Both wore flowing Greek tunics, one trimmed in blue, ****the other in green.**

"Zeus and Poseidon." Athena muttered to herself.

"Yep, mom." Ryan confirmed.

**They grappled with each other, wrestled, kicked and head-butted, **

"Sounds like the Ares cabin." Piper suggested half conscious.

Jason met the wicked glares from Ares kids with his own fierce gaze. "She's half asleep. Chill out." The lightning faded from his eyes as the Ares campers backed off.

Thalia felt her chest swelling with pride for her little brother.

Percy slightly rocked Annabeth back in his arms, her breathing becoming a little more even. He wondered how she was pulling a Sleeping Beauty in the middle of this book—he was wide awake. Percy yawned. Okay, he was _mostly_ awake.

**and every time they connected, lightning flashed, the sky grew darker, and the wind rose.**

**I had to stop them. I didn't know why. But the harder I ran, the more the wind blew me back, until I was running in place, my heels digging uselessly in the sand.**

**Over the roar of the storm, I could hear the blue-robed one yelling at the green-robed one, _Give it back! Give it back!_ Like a kindergartner fighting over a toy.**

"They might as well be kindergarteners..." Athena muttered dryly.

**The waves got bigger, crashing into the beach, spraying me with salt.**

**I yelled, _Stop it! Stop fighting!_**

**The ground shook. Laughter came from somewhere under the earth, and a voice so deep and evil it turned my blood to ice.**

**_Come down, little hero_, the voice crooned. _Come down!_**

The color of the magical campfire changed from the excitement of orange to the anxiety of flickering indigo color.

"Kronos..." Sunny whispered.

"Kronos..." Christine echoed, her voice trembling. Conner moved back one spot so that he was directly beside her. The color from her cheeks drained, so he took this as an opportune moment. He held his arms open wide, and the Iris girl collapsed into them without hesitation. Conner held onto her happily.

_Thank you Aphrodite! _He mouthed to the sky where stars were already coming out.

Thalia gazed up at the stars, wondering if Zoë was watching them right now.

**The sand split beneath me, opening up a crevice straight down to the center of the earth. My feet slipped, and darkness swallowed me.**

**I woke up, sure I was falling.**

**I was still in bed in cabin three. My body told me it was morning, but it was dark outside, and thunder rolled across the hills. A storm was brewing. I hadn't dreamed that.**

"Well that's reassuring." Travis noted.

**I heard a clopping sound at the door, a hoof knocking on the threshold.**

"Five drachmas it's Grover." Chris called out.

"Five drachma it's Chiron." Leo shot back.

"Deal." They shook hands.

Chiron and Grover shared a knowing look.

**"Come in?"**

**Grover trotted inside, looking worried. **

Chris laughed. "Pay up!"

"Damn snack bar." Leo grumbled fishing out five golden coins from his pant pocket. He dropped them into Chris' palm.

"Better be treating me to dinner with that." Clarisse grinned at her nervous looking boyfriend.

Leo dropped another drachma into Chris' hand. "Here. You'll need all you can get." He motioned to Clarisse with his thumb. "Something tells me that she's a spender."

**"Mr. D wants to see you."**

**"Why?"**

**"He wants to kill… I mean, I'd better let him tell you."**

"That was smooth." Rachel joked.

**Nervously, I got dressed and followed, sure that I was in huge trouble.**

"Turn into a grape vine trouble." Grover kidded, punching Percy on the shoulder softly.

**For days, I'd been half expecting a summons to the Big House. Now that I was declared a son of Poseidon, one of the Big Three gods who weren't supposed to have kids, I figured it was a crime for me just to be alive. The other gods had probably been debating the best way to punish me for existing, and now Mr. D was ready to deliver their verdict.**

"If only." Quipped Athena.

"Mom!" An Athenian girl protested, beating Annabeth to it.

**Over Long Island Sound, the sky looked like ink soup coming to a boil. A hazy curtain of rain was coming in our direction. I asked Grover if we needed an umbrella.**

**"No," he said. "It never rains here unless we want it to."**

**I pointed at the storm. "What the heck is that, then?"**

**He glanced uneasily at the sky. "It'll pass around us. Bad weather always does."**

**I realized he was right. In the week I'd been here, it had never even been overcast. The few rain clouds I'd seen had skirted right around the edges of the valley.**

**But this storm … this one was huge.**

**At the volleyball pit, the kids from Apollo's cabin were playing a morning game against the satyrs.**

"Who won?" Katie asked.

"Apollo cabin." Denzel, an older satyr, responded.

"Will Solace was the best ever." Sunny commented cheerfully.

"And he was great at pranks." Travis added.

"Why'd have to go!?" Marc shouted at the sky. "Why'd he get married?"

Faith tried not to become jealous, but she could already feel envy sitting in the pit of her stomach. Jonathan had once suggested anger management. Maybe that wasn't an entirely bad idea...

**Dionysus's twins were walking around in the strawberry fields, making the plants grow.**

Pollux looked at the ground, grief washing over his face. He missed Castor. Eliza Marie tugged at his shirt. Pollux forced a smile.

**Everybody was going about their normal business, but they looked tense. They kept their eyes on the storm.**

**Grover and I walked up to the front porch of the Big House. Dionysus sat at the pinochle table in his tiger-striped Hawaiian shirt with his Diet Coke, just as he had on my first day. Chiron sat across the table in his fake wheelchair. They were playing against invisible opponents—two sets of cards hovering in the air.**

**"Well, well," Mr. D said without looking up. "Our little celebrity."**

**I waited.**

**"Come closer," ****Mr. D said. "And don't expect me to kowtow to you, mortal, just because old Barnacle-Beard is your father."**

"I wonder how Poseidon took that." Marshall commented.

**A net of lightning flashed across the clouds. Thunder shook the windows of the house.**

**"Blah, blah, blah," Dionysus said.**

**Chiron feigned interest in his pinochle cards. Grover cowered by the railing, his hooves clopping back and forth.**

**"If I had my way," Dionysus said, "I would cause your molecules to erupt in flames. We'd sweep up the ashes and be done with a lot of trouble. But Chiron seems to feel this would be against my mission at this cursed camp: to keep you little brats safe from harm."**

**"Spontaneous combustion is a form of harm, Mr. D," Chiron put in.**

"Chiron, you saved my life. I am internally in your debt." Percy said, dead serious.

Chiron chuckled.

**"Nonsense," Dionysus said. "Boy wouldn't feel a thing. Nevertheless, I've agreed to restrain myself I'm thinking of turning you into a dolphin instead, sending you back to your father."**

"How heroic!" Frank teased.

"Leading into nautical battle," Clarisse put in.

**"Mr. D-" Chiron warned.**

**"Oh, all right," Dionysus relented. "There's one more option. But it's deadly foolishness." Dionysus rose, and the invisible players' cards dropped to the table. "I'm off to Olympus for the emergency meeting. If the boy is still here when I get back, I'll turn him into an Atlantic bottlenose. Do you understand? And Perseus Jackson, ****if you're at all smart, you'll see that's a much more sensible choice than what Chiron feels you must do."**

"Of course, we all know Percy isn't smart. Thus, Kelp Head." Thalia surmised.

**Dionysus picked up a playing card, twisted it, and it became a plastic rectangle. A credit card? No. A security pass.**

**He snapped his fingers.**

**The air seemed to fold and bend around him. He became a hologram, then a wind, then he was gone, leaving only the smell of fresh-pressed grapes lingering behind.**

"Grapes," Eliza Marie giggled. "Dad gives me grapes at lunch when I visit him." The curly haired six year old curled up in s ball, resting her head on Pollux's lap.

**Chiron smiled at me, but he looked tired and strained. "Sit, Percy, please. And Grover."**

**We did.**

**Chiron laid his cards on the table, a winning hand he hadn't gotten to use.**

Chiron nodded. "Old Dionysus. Just like him to leave before he could take his loss."

"**Tell me, Percy," he said. "What did you make of the hellhound?"**

**Just hearing the name made me shudder.**

**Chiron probably wanted me to say, Heck, it was nothing. I eat hellhounds for breakfast. But I didn't feel like lying.**

**"It scared me," I said. "If you hadn't shot it, I'd be dead."**

"Actually, Percy, it was Micheal Yew that killed it." Lacy corrected.

**"You'll meet worse, Percy. Far worse, before you're done."**

**"Done … with what?"**

**"Your quest, of course. Will you accept it?"**

**I glanced at Grover, who was crossing his fingers.**

Percy used his free hand to wrap around Grover's shoulder. He was one of the only audience members not falling asleep.

**"Um, sir," I said, "you haven't told me what it is yet."**

**Chiron grimaced. "Well, that's the hard part, the details."**

**Thunder rumbled across the valley. The storm clouds had now reached the edge of the beach. As far as I could see, the sky and the sea were boiling together.**

**"Poseidon and Zeus," I said. "They're fighting over something valuable … something that was stolen, aren't they?"**

"Very observant, Percy." Chiron mused, leaning against his wooden staff.

**Chiron and Grover exchanged looks.**

**Chiron sat forward in his wheelchair. "How did you know that?"**

**My face felt hot. I wished I hadn't opened my big mouth. "The weather since Christmas has been weird, like the sea and the sky are fighting. Then I talked to Annabeth, **

"Sure. Go ahead and blame Annabeth." Hazel yawned, stretching her legs across Frank's lap.

Annabeth giggled as Percy's grip around her tightened.

**and she'd overheard something about a theft. And … I've also been having these dreams."**

"Candy Land princess!" Leo shouted.

**"I knew it," Grover said.**

**"Hush, satyr," Chiron ordered.**

**"But it is his quest!" Grover's eyes were bright with excitement. "It must be!"**

**"Only the Oracle can determine." Chiron stroked his bristly beard. "Nevertheless, Percy, you are correct. Your father and Zeus are having their worst quarrel in centuries. They are fighting over something valuable that was stolen. To be precise: a lightning bolt."**

**I laughed nervously. "A what?"**

"A lightning bolt!" Miranda repeated.

**"Do not take this lightly," Chiron warned. "I'm not talking about some tinfoil-covered zigzag you'd see in a second-grade play. I'm talking about a two-foot-long cylinder of high-grade celestial bronze, capped on both ends with god-level explosives."**

**"Oh."**

Nico snorted. "He describes the most deadly weapon in the universe, and all you say is _oh_."

**"Zeus's master bolt," Chiron said, getting worked up now. "The symbol of his power, from which all other lightning bolts are patterned. The first weapon made by the Cyclopes for the war against the Titans, the bolt that sheered the top off Mount Etna and hurled Kronos from his throne; the master bolt, which packs enough power to make mortal hydrogen bombs look like firecrackers."**

**"And it's missing?"**

**"Stolen," Chiron said.**

**"By who?"**

**"By whom," Chiron corrected. Once a teacher, always a teacher.**

"Ugh," Frank murmured. He hated English and math at school. The only subject he found enjoyable was world history.

**"By you." My mouth fell open.**

**"At least"—Chiron held up a hand—"that's what Zeus thinks. During the winter solstice, at the last council of the gods, Zeus and Poseidon had an argument. The usual nonsense: 'Mother Rhea always liked you best, '****Air disasters are more spectacular than sea disasters,' et cetera.**

"I'd be grandma Rhea's favorite grandkid than." Jason grinned.

Thalia flicked him on the back of the head. "Nice try. But the oldest holds those luxuries."

Jason rolled his eyes at how stuck up his sister acted sometimes.

**Afterward, Zeus realized his master bolt was missing, taken from the throne room under his very nose. He immediately blamed Poseidon. Now, a god cannot usurp another god's symbol of power directly-that is forbidden by the most ancient of divine laws. But Zeus believes your father convinced a human hero to take it."**

**"But I didn't-"**

**"Patience and listen, child," ****Chiron said.**

_Thanks alot Luke_, Percy thought.

** "Zeus has good reason to be suspicious. The forges of the Cyclopes are under the ocean, which gives Poseidon some influence over the makers of his brother's lightning. Zeus believes Poseidon has taken the master bolt, and is now secretly having the Cyclopes build an arsenal of illegal copies, which might be used to topple Zeus from his throne.**

"The Cyclops wouldn't do that!" Tyson protested, then stopped short. "I hope not."

Percy patted Tyson's shoulder. "Don't worry, Ty. Dad wouldn't make the Cyclops do that."

**The only thing Zeus wasn't sure about was which hero Poseidon used to steal the bolt. Now Poseidon has openly claimed you as his son. You were in New York over the winter holidays. You could easily have snuck into Olympus. Zeus believes he has found his thief."**

**"But I've never even been to Olympus! Zeus is crazy!"**

"He really is..." Jason nodded.

**Chiron and Grover glanced nervously at the sky. The clouds didn't seem to be parting around us, as Grover had promised. They were rolling straight over our valley, sealing us in like a coffin lid.**

"You're optimistic." Travis pointed out. Katie yawned, sounding oddly similar to a kitten. Travis draped an arm around her.

**"Er, Percy …?" Grover said. "We don't use the c-word to describe the Lord of the Sky."**

"What c-word?" Tyson asked puzzled.

"Crazy," Grover replied, nervously at the dark sky.

Percy rolled his eyes. "No of course not." he said sarcastically.

"That word is reserved for Hera." Reyna put in.

"Haha!" Annabeth laughed. "Right on Reyna."

Reyna smiled proudly.

"Don't get to cocky, Roman." Leo informed her. Reyna pursed her lips. Leo smirked, sneaking a kiss on her cheek.

**"Perhaps paranoid," ****Chiron suggested. "Then again, Poseidon has tried to unseat Zeus before. I believe that was question thirty-eight on your final exam…"**

"I'm proud to reveal that Percy got that question correct." Chiron praised. "In fact, he nearly aced he entire exam."

"Nice job, Percy." Rachel complimented.

"Yeah. Best I've ever averaged on an exam was a B+ average." Thalia knit her eyebrows, obviously impressed.

**He looked at me as if he actually expected me to remember question thirty-eight.**

**How could anyone accuse me of stealing a god's weapon? I couldn't even steal a slice of pizza from Gabe's poker party without getting busted.**

Marc shook his head, eyes full of shame. "That is just sad on so many levels."

**Chiron was waiting for an answer.**

**"Something about a golden net?" I guessed. "Poseidon and Hera and a few other gods … they, like, trapped Zeus and wouldn't let him out until he promised to be a better ruler, right?"**

**"Correct," Chiron said. "And Zeus has never trusted Poseidon since. Of course, Poseidon denies stealing the master bolt. He took great offense at the accusation. The two have been arguing back and forth for months, threatening war. And now, you've come along—the proverbial last straw."**

"Who'd think that a brotherly quarrel could lead to a war?" Hazel murmured sleepily.

**"But I'm just a kid!"**

**"Percy," Grover cut in, "if you were Zeus, and you already thought your brother was plotting to overthrow you, then your brother suddenly admitted he had broken the sacred oath he took after World War II, that he's fathered a new mortal hero who might be used as a weapon against you…. Wouldn't that put a twist in your toga?"**

"No one wears togas any more." Chris muttered.

Athena arced a brow. "Be careful about what you say in front of Apollo."

Jonathan slapped his face exasperated. "Thanks alot dad. You wearing togas has made the Apollo cabin a laughing stock."

"I think your poetry already did that." An Aphrodite boy snickered.

"At least we can rely on our bows for protection!" Jonathan spat back. "The only two Aphrodite kids who are worth anyone's time is Silena Beauregard and Piper!"

That got a few glares, but Jonathan didn't care. It was one thing if an Apollo kid joked about poetry—when someone else did, things get personal.

**"But I didn't do anything. Poseidon—my dad—he didn't really have this master bolt stolen, did he?"**

**Chiron sighed. "Most thinking observers would agree that thievery is not Poseidon's style. ****But the Sea God is too proud to try convincing Zeus of that. Zeus has demanded that Poseidon return the bolt by the summer solstice. That's June twenty-first, ten days from now.**

**Poseidon wants an apology for being called a thief by the same date. I hoped that diplomacy might prevail, that Hera or Demeter or Hestia would make the two brothers see sense. But your arrival has inflamed Zeus's temper. Now neither god will back down.**

_Those two can be so immature,_ Athena thought.

**Unless someone intervenes, unless the master bolt is found and returned to Zeus before the solstice, there will be war. And do you know what a full-fledged war would look like, Percy?"**

**"Bad?" I guessed.**

"Bad?" Nico laughed. "All he has to say is bad?"

"Let's remember that Percy is not the sharpest crayon in the box." Rachel said, rubbing sleep from her eyes.

"More art analogies." Jason warned in a joking way.

"Jason," Rachel whispered, not overly offended.

**"Imagine the world in chaos. Nature at war with itself. Olympians forced to choose sides between Zeus and Poseidon. Destruction. Carnage. Millions dead. Western civilization turned into a battleground so big it will make the Trojan War look like a water-balloon fight."**

**"Bad," I repeated.**

"You don't say?" Conner asked sarcastically. Christine was snoozing, her head on his shoulder.

**"And you, Percy Jackson, would be the first to feel Zeus's wrath."**

**It started to rain. Volleyball players stopped their game and stared in stunned silence at the sky.**

"Yeah. That had been a little freaky for everyone." Clarisse admitted.

**I had brought this storm to Half-Blood Hill. Zeus was punishing the whole camp because of me. I was furious.**

**"So I have to find the stupid bolt," I said. "And return it to Zeus."**

**"What better peace offering," Chiron said, "than to have the son of Poseidon return Zeus's property?"**

**"If Poseidon doesn't have it, where is the thing?"**

**"I believe I know." Chiron's expression was grim. "Part of a prophecy I had years ago****… well, some of the lines make sense to me, now. But before I can say more, you must officially take up the quest. You must seek the counsel of the Oracle."**

**"Why can't you tell me where the bolt is beforehand?"**

**"Because if I did, you would be too afraid to accept the challenge."**

"Excellent logic." Ember mused.

**I swallowed. "Good reason."**

**"You agree then?"**

**I looked at Grover, who nodded encouragingly.**

**Easy for him. I was the one Zeus wanted to kill.**

"sorry Percy. I should've thought about your feelings." Grover apologized hastily.

Percy grinned. "No problem, G-Man. You needed to find Pan."

**"All right," I said. "It's better than being turned into a dolphin."**

**"Then it's time you consulted the Oracle," Chiron said. "Go upstairs, Percy Jackson, to the attic. When you come back down, assuming you're still sane, we will talk more."**

Percy snorted. "I almost didn't."

"Don't you have to be sane when you first go?" Annabeth asked sweetly. Percy poured as campers, Athena, and even Chiron laughed. Annabeth kissed Percy as an apology.

**Four flights up, the stairs ended under a green trapdoor.**

**I pulled the cord. The door swung down, and a wooden ladder clattered into place.**

**The warm air from above smelled like mildew and rotten wood and something else … a smell I remembered from biology class. Reptiles. The smell of snakes.**

"Ewww!" Lacy squealed disgusted, scrunching her nose. "Snakes are yucky and scary!"

"Are not!" Travis objected.

**I held my breath and climbed.**

**The attic was filled with Greek hero junk: armor stands covered in cobwebs; once-bright shields pitted with rust; old leather steamer trunks plastered with stickers saying ITHAKA, CIRCE'S ISLE, and LAND OF THE AMAZONS.**

"Amazons!" Reyna smiled to herself.

**One long table was stacked with glass jars filled with pickled things—severed hairy claws, huge yellow eyes, various other parts of monsters. A dusty mounted trophy on the wall looked like a giant snake's head, but with horns and a full set of shark's teeth. The plaque read, HYDRA HEAD #1, WOODSTOCK, N.Y., 1969.**

Several girl campers appeared appalled, but the boys looked totally entranced, absorbing every detail.

"Awesome." Frank had a sappy grin.

**By the window, sitting on a wooden tripod stool, was the most gruesome memento of all: a mummy. Not the wrapped-in-cloth kind, but a human female body shriveled to a husk. She wore a tie-dyed sundress, lots of beaded necklaces, and a headband over long black hair. The skin of her face was thin and leathery over her skull, and her eyes were glassy white slits, as if the real eyes had been replaced by marbles; she'd been dead a long, long time.**

"I'm glad Rachel is the Oracle now." Eliza Marie shouted. "Rachel is really pretty.

Rachel blushed. "Thanks sweetie."

**Looking at her sent chills up my back. And that was before she sat up on her stool and opened her mouth. A green mist poured from the mummy's mouth, coiling over the floor in thick tendrils, hissing like twenty thousand snakes. I stumbled over myself trying to get to the trapdoor, but it slammed shut. Inside my head, I heard a voice, slithering into one ear and coiling around my brain: _I am the spirit of Delphi, speaker of the prophecies of Phoebus Apollo, _**_**slayer of the mighty Python. Approach, seeker, and ask.**_

"That was creepy for everyone." Annabeth recalled the horrible time she had to consult the Oracle. Percy pressed his lips against her forehead, and she instantly felt safe. She even ignored Athena watching them through her grey-Rinestoned glasses.

**I wanted to say, _No thanks, wrong door, just looking for the bathroom_. But I forced myself to take a deep breath.**

"Only Percy." Ryan mumbled. He glanced over to see why Faith was so quiet. She was dozing off, so he pulled her into his lap and rocked her gently.

**The mummy wasn't alive. She was some kind of gruesome receptacle for something else, the power that was now swirling around me in the green mist. But its presence didn't feel evil, like my demonic math teacher Mrs. Dodds or the Minotaur. It felt more like the Three Fates I'd seen knitting the yarn outside the highway fruit stand: ****ancient, powerful, and definitely not human. But not particularly interested in killing me, either.**

"That's a plus." Frank said.

**I got up the courage to ask, "What is my destiny?"**

"I know this one!" Leo raised his hand playfully.

"To save Olympus!" Jason said. He tried not to make sudden movements— Piper had fallen asleep in his lap.

**The mist swirled more thickly, collecting right in front of me and around the table with the pickled monster-part jars. Suddenly there were four men sitting around the table, playing cards. Their faces became clearer. It was Smelly Gabe and his buddies.**

"Great." Tyson frowned un-enthusiastically.

"My thoughts exactly." Jason had an annoyed straight face. "I had enough of him in chapter 3, and he was barely in it!" Piper purred in his lap.

**My fists clenched, though I knew this poker party couldn't be real. It was an illusion, made out of mist.**

**Gabe turned toward me and spoke in the rasping voice of the Oracle: _You shall go west and face the god who has turned._**

Rachel's head had been leaning against Nico's shoulder, but she suddenly snapped awake. Her eyes glowed green the same way they did when she was about to deliver a prophecy. Nico raised his eyebrows, scooting as far away as possible.

_"You shall go west and face the god who has turned._

_You shall find what was stolen and see it safely returned._

_You shall be betrayed by one who calls you a friend._

_And you shall fail to save what matters most in the end."_

Her eyes stopped glowing and she fell weakly against Katie, who righted her. Rachel pressed a palm to her forehead, a headache developing behind her eyes.

Chiron centered forward, resting a hand on the nearest camper's (a boy from Hypnos) shoulder. "Are you alright me dear?" He directed toward the Oracle.

Rachel nodded, clearly pained. "Yeah. I'll make it through the rest of the chapter."

"Yes. Then it will be lights out for everyone anyways. If you feel I'll, Rachel, then we will get you to the infirmary."

Rachel nodded, already feeling better.

"Thanks alot Rachel." Leo poured sarcastically.

"Spoiler alert!" Grover joked.

**His buddy on the right looked up and said in the same voice: _You shall find what was stolen, and see it safely returned._**

**The guy on the left threw in two poker chips, then said: _You shall be betrayed by one who calls you a friend._**

**Finally, Eddie, our building super, delivered the worst line of all: _And you shall fail to save what matters most, in the end._**

**The figures began to dissolve. At first I was too stunned to say anything, but as the mist retreated, coiling into a huge green serpent and slithering back into the mouth of the mummy, I cried, "Wait! What do you mean? What friend? What will I fail to save?"**

**The tail of the mist snake disappeared into the mummy's mouth. She reclined back against the wall. Her mouth closed tight, as if it hadn't been open in a hundred years. The attic was silent again, abandoned, nothing but a room full of mementos.**

**I got the feeling that I could stand here until I had cobwebs, too, and I wouldn't learn anything else.**

**My audience with the Oracle was over.**

"No duh." Clarisse yawned.

**Well?" Chiron asked me.**

**I slumped into a chair at the pinochle table. "She said I would retrieve what was stolen."**

**Grover sat forward, chewing excitedly on the remains of a Diet Coke can. "That's great!"**

**"What did the Oracle say exactly?" Chiron pressed. "This is important."**

**My ears were still tingling from the reptilian voice. "She . .. she said I would go west and face a god who had turned. I would retrieve what was stolen and see it safely returned."**

**"I knew it," Grover said.**

**Chiron didn't look satisfied. "Anything else?"**

**I didn't want to tell him.**

**What friend would betray me? I didn't have that many.**

**And the last line-I would fail to save what mattered most. What kind of Oracle would send me on a quest and tell me, _Oh, by the way, you'll fail._**

**How could I confess that?**

**"No," I said. "That's about it."**

"Liar, liar." Hazel crooned.

"Pants on fire." Katie finished, barely audible.

**He studied my face. "Very well, Percy. But know this: the Oracle's words often have double meanings. Don't dwell on them too much. The truth is not always clear until events come to pass."**

**I got the feeling he knew I was holding back something bad, and he was trying to make me feel better.**

"I can read emotions better than any satyr or Cyclops." Chrion bragged gingerly. Almost every camper smiled at him.

**"Okay," I said, anxious to change topics. "So where do I go? Who's this god in the west?"**

**"Ah, think, Percy," Chiron said. "If Zeus and Poseidon weaken each other in a war, who stands to gain?"**

**"Somebody else who wants to take over?" I guessed.**

**"Yes, quite. Someone who harbors a grudge, who has been unhappy with his lot since the world was divided eons ago, whose kingdom would grow powerful with the deaths of millions. Someone who hates his brothers for forcing him into an oath to have no more children, an oath that both of them have now broken."**

**I thought about my dreams, the evil voice that had spoken from under the ground. "Hades."**

Nico groaned. "No. It's Kronos."

"We know that now, di Angelo." Thalia shot back.

**Chiron nodded. "The Lord of the Dead is the only possibility."**

**A scrap of aluminum dribbled out of Grover's mouth. "Whoa, wait. Wh-what?"**

**"A Fury came after Percy," Chiron reminded him. "She watched the young man until she was sure of his identity, then tried to kill him. Furies obey only one lord: Hades."**

**"Yes, but-but Hades hates all heroes," Grover protested. "Especially if he has found out Percy is a son of Poseidon… ."**

**"A hellhound got into the forest," Chiron continued. "Those can only be summoned from the Fields of Punishment, and it had to be summoned by someone within the camp. Hades must have a spy here. He must suspect Poseidon will try to use Percy to clear his name. Hades would very much like to kill this young half-blood before he can take on the quest."**

**"Great," I muttered. "That's two major gods who want to kill me."**

"Don't forget Dionysus, Ares, and Athena." A daughter of Nemesis laughed.

" I don't want to kill Percy!" Athena protested. Awkward silence. "Anymore."she added quietly.

**"But a quest to …" Grover swallowed. "I mean, couldn't the master bolt be in some place like Maine? Maine's very nice this time of year."**

Kids from Demeter chuckled.

"I live in Maine during the winter, and let me tell you, it is not fun in the winter." A son of Demeter, Alberto, chuckled sourly.

"Winter is annoying in every state," Bella from Demeter added scornfully. "Nothing grows."

"I wish mother would get over Persephone when we're right here." Miranda mumbled darkly.

"Persephone, our dear sister, is nothing but a spoiled brat!" Craig, also Demeter, spat.

Several kids mumbled in agreement.

"I should be goddess of spring." Chelsea pouted. "I'm much nicer than Persephone."

"Yeah. She isn't a nice step mom either!" Nico confirmed, slouching in his spot.

"Uh guys?" Grover asked weakly. The Demeter cabin glanced at him, still vaguely annoyed at Demeter's favoritism toward Persephone. "We were talking about Maine during the summer."

"Oh yeah..."

**Hades sent a minion to steal the master bolt," Chiron insisted. "He hid it in the Underworld, knowing full well that Zeus would blame Poseidon. I don't pretend to understand the Lord of the Dead's motives perfectly, or why he chose this time to start a war, but one thing is certain. Percy must go to the Underworld, find the master bolt, and reveal the truth."**

**A strange fire burned in my stomach. The weirdest thing was: it wasn't fear. It was anticipation. The desire for revenge. Hades had tried to kill me three times so far, with the Fury, the Minotaur, and the hellhound. It was his fault my mother had disappeared in a flash of light. Now he was trying to frame me and my dad for a theft we hadn't committed.**

Nico frowned, a little irritated on how the blame was pinned. Hazel was barely awake to hear the accusations.

**I was ready to take him on.**

"Course you are." Reyna fought to keep her eyes open.

**Besides, if my mother was in the Underworld …**

**Whoa, boy, said the small part of my brain that was still sane. You're a kid. Hades is a god.**

**Grover was trembling. He'd started eating pinochle cards like potato chips.**

**The poor guy needed to complete a quest with me so he could get his searcher's license, whatever that was, but how could I ask him to do this quest, especially when the Oracle said I was destined to fail? This was suicide.**

**"Look, if we know it's Hades," I told Chiron, "why can't we just tell the other gods? Zeus or Poseidon could go down to the Underworld and bust some heads."**

**"Suspecting and knowing are not the same," Chiron said. "Besides, even if the other gods suspect Hades-and I imagine Poseidon does-they couldn't retrieve the bolt themselves. Gods cannot cross each other's territories except by invitation.**

**That is another ancient rule. Heroes, on the other hand, have certain privileges. They can go anywhere, challenge anyone, as long as they're bold enough and strong enough to do it. No god can be held responsible for a hero's actions. Why do you think the gods always operate through humans?"**

**"You're saying I'm being used."**

"That's one way of putting it." Athena relented.

Annabeth frowned at the thought of of how so many children of Athena died trying to find the Athena Perthenos. Even Athena didn't always work through heroes—her own kids—kindly.

**"I'm saying it's no accident Poseidon has claimed you now. It's a very risky gamble, but he's in a desperate situation. He needs you."**

**My dad needs me.**

**Emotions rolled around inside me like bits of glass in a kaleidoscope. I didn't know whether to feel resentful or grateful or happy or angry. Poseidon had ignored me for twelve years. Now suddenly he needed me.**

**I looked at Chiron. "You've known I was Poseidon's son all along, haven't you?"**

**"I had my suspicions. As I said … I've spoken to the Oracle, too."**

**I got the feeling there was a lot he wasn't telling me about his prophecy, but I decided I couldn't worry about that right now. After all, I was holding back information too.**

"You'd be excellent at poker." Marc teased.

Percy shuddered. "Living with Gabe ugly-on-o since 3rd grade has ruined any of those chances."

Annabeth hid a yawn in Percy's orange t-shirt.

**"So let me get this straight," I said. "I'm supposed go to the Underworld and confront the Lord of the Dead."**

"Check," Thalia said.

**"Check," Chiron said.**

**"Find the most powerful weapon in the universe."**

"Check," Tyson confirmed.

**"Check."**

**"And get it back to Olympus before the summer solstice, in ten days."**

"No sweat." Jason sighed.

"All in a day's work." Reyna agreed softly.

**"That's about right."**

**I looked at Grover, who gulped down the ace of hearts.**

"Yummy." Leo bit his lower lip to fight off a yawn.

**"Did I mention that Maine is very nice this time of year?" he asked weakly.**

"Yes!" Alberto exclaimed.

**"You don't have to go," I told him. "I can't ask that of you.**

**"Oh …" He shifted his hooves. "No … it's just that satyrs and underground places … well…"**

**He took a deep breath, then stood, brushing the shredded cards and aluminum bits off his T-shirt. "You saved my life, Percy. If … if you're serious about wanting me along, I won't let you down."**

**I felt so relieved I wanted to cry, though I didn't think that would be very heroic. Grover was the only friend I'd ever had for longer than a few months. I wasn't sure what good a satyr could do against the forces of the dead, but I felt better knowing he'd be with me.**

**"All the way, G-man." I turned to Chiron. "So where do we go? The Oracle just said to go west."**

**"The entrance to the Underworld is always in the west. It moves from age to age, just like Olympus. Right now, of course, it's in America."**

**"Where?"**

**Chiron looked surprised. "I thought that would be obvious enough. The entrance to the Underworld is in Los Angeles."**

**"Oh," I said. "Naturally. So we just get on a plane-"**

"That's a good way to get yourself killed." Thalia muttered.

**"No!" Grover shrieked. "Percy, what are you thinking? Have you ever been on a plane in your life?"**

**I shook my head, feeling embarrassed. My mom had never taken me anywhere by plane. She'd always said we didn't have the money. Besides, her parents had died in a plane crash.**

"That and Gabe gambles it all away." Percy added. He subconsciously continued to stroke Annabeth's hair, though it was still braided.

**"Percy, think," Chiron said. "You are the son of the Sea God. Your father's bitterest rival is Zeus, Lord of the Sky. Your mother knew better than to trust you in an airplane. You would be in Zeus's domain. You would never come down again alive."**

**Overhead, lightning crackled. Thunder boomed.**

**"Okay," I said, determined not to look at the storm. "So, I'll travel overland."**

**"That's right," Chiron said. "Two companions may accompany you. Grover is one. The other has already volunteered, if you will accept her help."**

"Shoot yeah! I'll be ready in 20 minutes." Leo joked. Percy, Reyna and Annabeth gave him a strange look. Leo faltered slightly.

"You're not a _her_ anyways Leo." Hazel told him. Her eyes were closed, and her curly cinnamon hair brushed over Frank's lap as he held her hand.

**"Gee," I said, feigning surprise. "Who else would be stupid enough to volunteer for a quest like this?"**

"No child of Athena is ever stupid." Athena fired. Her intense grey eyes magnified by the reading glasses dared anyone to say otherwise.

All but the Athena campers looked scared out of their wits. Ryan rolled his eyes. "Except when hang out with the Hermes and Apollo kids." He kissed Faith on the cheek. Faith giggled and blushed. Nico turned away, feeling moody.

"Like when we glued Marvin's butt to the picnic table seat!?" Malcolm asked laughing.

Athena Sat, mouth agape as one of her children spouted out other immature acts they had done.

**The air shimmered behind Chiron. ****Annabeth became visible, stuffing her Yankees cap into her back pocket.**

**"I've been waiting a long time for a quest, seaweed brain," ****she said.**

"And the nicknames are born! So beautiful!" Thalia mocked with a false girlish tone. Annabeth shoved her into Jason.

**"Athena is no fan of Poseidon, but if you're going to save the world, I'm the best person to keep you from messing up."**

**"If you do say so yourself," I said. "I suppose you have a plan, wise girl?"**

**Her cheeks colored. "Do you want my help or not?"**

"How cute." Hazel managed a smile as she sat up slowly. Frank wrapped a supporting arm around her torso.

**The truth was, I did. I needed all the help I could get.**

**"A trio," I said. "That'll work."**

**"Excellent," Chiron said. "This afternoon, we can take you as far as the bus terminal in Manhattan. After that, you are on your own."**

**Lightning flashed. Rain poured down on the meadows that were never supposed to have violent weather.**

**"No time to waste," Chiron said. "I think you should all get packing**.

Athena snapped the book shut and at the time, her desk, chair, and glasses _plopped_ out of existence. She whispered softly, and the book disappeared then promptly reappeared in Chiron's outstretched hands.

"You've been a wonderful audience." Athena bowed. The campers clapped, but not vigorously as the Athenians.

Percy surged forward. "Hey Lady Athena. Quick question."

Athena nodded for him to carry on.

"Why are all your kids blonde when you are a brunette?" He asked. He genuinely wanted to know.

Annabeth swatted Percy on the chest.

Athena's nose twitched. "I'll pretend that I didn't hear that." Then the goddess folded out of existence without saying good by to Annabeth.

Chiron cleared his throat, waiting for the attention to be on him. "We'll resume tomorrow morning after breakfast. Now off to your cabins."

Campers dispersed to their cabins for a nights rest. Percy swept Annabeth off her feet, planting a kiss on her nose.

Annabeth grinned, grey eyes sparkling. "You sure know how to tick off the gods."

Percy's seam green eyes glinted in a mischievous way. "One of the things you love about me."

* * *

**Ÿêâh! Another chapter done, and some good news! I found a bunch of pre typed chapters so frequent updates is back on! **

**Thank you**

**carbarsoccer10**

**Daughter of the Gods**

**For offering to help. I love you two. :D**

**If you would still like to help, I would love it if you could help type out The Lost Hero and The Son of Neptune since I don't have pre typed chapters for those. But that is totally up to you two.**

**Thanks lovelies :D this chapter is dedicated to you**

**~PFG**


	12. Not Your Average Walk in the Park

**I tried my best, but I'm not very good at fluff. I'm more of an adventure writer. Why do you think I was so drawn to PJO?**

* * *

**Bedtime: Not Your Average Walk in the Park**

As soon as Percy had kissed her goodnight, Annabeth made a break for her cabin. Her hair felt oily and her dirty camp t-shirt clung to her body from sweat and grime. She hurried over to her trunk that was at the end of her bed. Rummaging around in her trunk for a minute as she debated on what to wear, she finally pulled out a pair of grey silk pajama pants and a big blue New York Yankees t-shirt out, along with clean undies.

Her siblings were already settling down for the night, but she had a feeling Malcolm and Ryan would be up discussing a book that they had read. Annabeth crossed over to her sister, Maria's trunk. She withdrew shampoo and conditioner, promising herself that she would remember to return it, and not forget it in the shower like last time.

The blonde girl shoved the bundle under her right arm, the wood floor creaking beneath her feet as she made her way to the door. "Be back in a few."

"Don't hurry back." Ryan answered, staring at the front cover of whatever book it was.

Annabeth rolled her eyes. She could detect the sarcastic edge he always seemed to carry now a days. The door clicked behind her, a little much to loud for the camp being so silent. She really shouldn't be out after curfew, but desperate times called for desperate measures.

Besides, Chiron would understand. And if a harpy took a swoop at her, she could duck into a random cabin until the coast-was-clear.

Annabeth inhaled the fresh scent of pine. Thalia's tree had the most soothing aroma she had ever smelt. The entire camp itself seemed soothing—even the deadly monsters that were stocked up in the woods.

She enjoyed the walk to the bathroom. She had Artemis to thank for the beautiful full moon that provided her with a lit path. And Zeus had made it so that no clouds blocked the moon's radiant glow. Thalia's pine casted an enormous, looming shadow that had been thought of as a shadow of safety.

When she made it to the bathroom, Annabeth heard the faucet running. She scrunched up her nose, trying to name the possibilities of who else could be breaking curfew. Rachel's cave was too far away—sides she had a private bathroom.

Hazel and Piper had been practically out cold the last time she saw them, and it looked like they would be out until morning.

It could have been Clarisse, Reyna, Faith, or Ember. They had a personality that tended to question authority, as if she were the highest ranking officer.

Reyna, Annabeth could understand since she had been praetor at Camp Jupiter, so she, like Annabeth herself, was used to being in charge.

Clarisse was big, strong, intimidating, and she had been one of the campers to have been at camp longest. She had the ideal leadership qualities, and the power to uphold those qualities. That, and she scared everyone to much for her _not_ to do whatever she wanted.

Ember was strong and hard headed, but had no leadership qualities.

Faith had an attitude, but mainly because she's shorter than most, standing at about 5 foot 1 inch and she vied for attention. She was also younger than several of her siblings, but she was a persistent with what she wanted and _never_, like _never_, gave up.

Annabeth twisted the knob, pushing the door open. She nearly walked right into Thalia, who's black hair was wet and plastered to her head and a towel slung over her shoulders.

Annabeth jumped back, instantly reaching for the dagger that _should_ have been strapped to the belt that she was also _not_ wearing. Annabeth scowled. Who'd think that you might've needed your knife to shower.

Thalia smiled down at Annabeth, who still happened to be taller than her, despite being stuck as a 16 year old forever. She had on a dark purple tank top and black pj pants that hid her feet. "ANNABETH!"

Annabeth jumped back, clearly startled by Thalia. "Gods of Olympus! Thalia you scared me!" Her eyes were starting to cross, but her heart rate had already lowered down to a natural pace against. She closed her eyes, shook her head then reopened them.

Thalia grinned. "No. Really? I thought you were having the time of your life."

Annabeth stared into Thalia's big, dark blue eyes for what seemed like forever. She tried to telepathically transmit some seriousness into her friend's head. Ever since Thalia had joined the Hunters and found Jason to top it off, she had been a bit more carefree. After an intense staring contest, Annabeth cracked a grin. "Any hot water left?"

Thalia shrugged. "Should be. I only took a 10 minute shower."

"Okay. Thanks Thal."

"See ya in the morning." Thalia shouldered into Annabeth, shoving her into the door frame. Annabeth shoved her back, and Thalia stumbled through the door, laughing with a towel wrapped around her neck. She made her way to the Artemis cabin.

Annabeth chuckled to herself before undoing her braid. She chose the shower farthest from the door and pulled back the solid curtain and she adjusted the water's temperature. After undressing, she climbed into the shower and warm water cascaded along her face. Her blonde hair began to cling to her neck and back as well as darkening in color.

Not wanting to take more time then necessary, she dumped a small amount of lilac scented shampoo in her palm and scrubbed her hair. Bubbles kissed her shoulders and arms, gently sliding down her moist skin. She rinsed it thoroughly, then applied conditioner. Once again, she rinsed all the suds from her hair. Quickly, she washed her body with a pink loofa then stood under the water for a few more minutes.

When she finally stepped out of the shower, her hair was silky and curly, a blonde color that was a couple shades darker than her normal color. Her skin was soft and smelt like cucumber melon, which was a strange combination with lilac smelling hair.

She changed into her pajamas, then gathered up everything she had brought. She had almost forgotten Maria's shampoo again, but remembered it at the last moment. Annabeth switched off the light so when she opened the door, light wouldn't flood out onto the grass.

She glanced to the left and right, then bolted for her cabin. Just because she had a nice walk to the bathroom didn't mean she would have a nice walk back. Which was really a shame. It really was a beautiful night.

She creaked the cabin door open carelessly. At the sound of her siblings snoring softly, Annabeth felt a smile forming. At first she had half expected Malcolm and Ryan still up and chatting, but Annabeth hadn't realized she'd been gone almost a half hour.

Tossing her bundle of bathroom goodies on the floor, Annabeth told herself she'd pick them up in the morning. She crawled under the sheets of her bunk bed since it was too warm to sleep under the comforter. Her face sunk deep into her pillow, the touch surprisingly inviting.

Annabeth cooed softly, smacking her lips. She was too tired to think about anything from today. Although there _was_ one thing that she couldn't seem to shake. How could someone _other_ than Percy write a book _about_ Percy?

* * *

Annabeth's eyes flew open in a panic. Someone was looming looming over her, and they had their hand across her mouth. Her eyes darted over to her dagger that was sitting on her bedside table, her breathing becoming a little shallow. If she could only reached her dagger...

"Annabeth!" A familiar voice hissed quietly, the grip on her mouth relaxing. "It's me Ryan." He removed his hand, helping Annabeth sit up.

The blonde girl rubbed her eyes. She stared at her brother who was starting to come into a clearer focus as her eyes adjusted to the dark. Brown curly hair, blue eyes, serious expression—definitely Ryan. "Ryan. . .? What?"

Ryan grinned. "It's 1:07am."

Annabeth frowned, glaring over at the analog clock that Damian had snuck into camp. It read 1:07am. "What are you doing waking me up at 1:00 in the morning?" She sounded a little whiny, but she could care less right now.

Ryan shrugged like he knew something that she didn't. "I would've let you sleep, but he insisted."

Annabeth pursed her lips, her mind still to foggy from sleeping. She obviously didn't have nightmares. "He?

Ryan got up from the end of her bed. He made a hook motion that meant follow me, then quietly proceeded to make his way to the bunk bad that he shared with Malcolm.

Annabeth huffed, yanking the covers off of her legs. Shivers tingled up her toes and into her legs when her bare feet touched the cool wood. The floor creaked under her weight, making Annabeth wince nervously. She glanced up timidly—Ryan was already on the top bunk of his bed.

Annabeth held her breath as she made a quick sprint for the ladder. She hastily climbed onto the top bunk, joining her brother on his his soft grey comforter beside a window. Ryan was lucky to have his bed next to one of the four windows in the cabin.

Annabeth combed a hand through her hair, forcing in back. "What's this about, Rye-Bread?" She yawned gently, ignoring the twitching look her brother was giving her.

He jabbed his thumb toward the window. "Prince Charming made me get you."

Annabeth pressed her face against the window, mouthing Percy's name. He was up this early in the morning? That was so unlike him. Now if it was Thalia or Nico that wanted to talk, now _that_ she could believe—those two were like owls. But Percy? There was virtually no way.

Her eyes spied a humanoid shape standing about a foot and ½ shorter than the window. When the person looked up, his green eyes glittered in the moonlight and Annabeth had no doubt that it was Percy.

He tapped on the window glass above his head, then gestured for her to come outside.

Annabeth rubbed the right side of her face in exasperation. This was so like him. She stared down at him through the window as he stared up expectantly. She turned to Ryan. "You have a pen and paper?"

"Sure." Ryan swung his feet around the railing of the opposite side of the bunk bed, then leaned over the edge. A split second later he was back, his face a bit more flush from being upside down, with Malcom's pen and yellow legal pad in one hand. "Here."

He dropped the two items on the bed in front of her.

Annabeth grabbed the pen and quickly scribbled a note to Percy. She would have just tried talking through the glass, but the walls were magically sound proof though they looked thin, and only Poseidon knew how awful Percy was at reading lips.

She held up the note:

_Why are you up so early? Are you sick?_

Percy's eyes darted from left to right as he read the message. He grinned as he pulled out his own notebook and pen - Riptide since he learned how to write with it when he was in Tartarus.

He flipped the notepad around:

_Couldn't sleep. Come on. Let's go on a walk._

Annabeth snorted as she wrote her reply.

_You Seaweed Brain. What about the harpies?_

Percy's smile widened, jotting down his answer.

_Chill out, Annabeth. Don't worry._

_ Percy has it under control. You coming or what?_

Annabeth smirked at the confident look in Percy's eyes on the other side of the glass. He seemed to have been using some sort of reverse psychology on her, and though she hated to admit it, it worked. She scribbled her final answer on the pad of paper:

_meet me in front of my cabin. ;)_

Percy blew her a kiss then disappeared around the corner of the cabin.

Annabeth ripped the page from the legal pad that she had been writing in. She started scrambling down the ladder when Ryan crossed his arms at her. She froze, a pleading look on her face.

Ryan rolled his eyes, but his serious expression had softened. "Don't worry. I'll cover you."

Annabeth smiled. "Thanks, Ryan." She tip toed over to her bed less carefully this time. After she stashed the notes under her mattress, she slipped on a pair of green converse and a grey hoody over her t-shirt.

"Better be back before dawn." Ryan warned, laying down on his back.

Annabeth raised a brow, questioning the younger Athena camper's authority over her. "Yeah okay. Don't tell Malcolm. He'd freak." She twisted the door knob, slowly exiting. The last thing she heard was the soft snores of her brothers and sisters and Ryan mumbling something like,_ you'd better be back before he wakes up then_.

Percy was waiting for her when she walked out. He had on blue jeans, a green and black plaid button up shirt, and green, blue, and grey DCs. His eyes glowed and his dark hair was disheveled, but in a stylish way.

Annabeth's hand moved up to her hair, all damp and tangled. She should have combed it.

Percy draped an arm around her shoulders when she came up alongside him. "Miss Annabeth Chase. I'm honored by your company."

Annabeth fought back a blush, but she could still feel her face heating up. "Okay. You got me out here, now where are we going?"

"A little walk." Percy could see the slightly baffled look on her face, even though she did a great job hiding it. Over the years he had learned how to read her emotions. He decided to confuse her even more by slipping a kiss onto her cheek, then racing off at super speeds.

He glanced back once he was a good distance away, but he quickly sped up when he saw Annabeth gaining quickly, her laughter filling the otherwise silent camp. He ran toward the lake, a natural instinct that took over even if he was just running from Annabeth.

Percy's feet boomed against the wooden planks of the dock as his pace slowed down. He was panting heavily, and so was Annabeth when she slammed into him to stop her speed progression.

So there they stood, doubled over laughing and panting on the dock almost 15 feet from shore. Being the son of Poseidon, Percy could tell that the water was nearly 25 feet deep where they were.

After a minute, Percy took Annabeth's hand in his. He stroked her cheek with the back of his other hand. "Ready for the walk?"

Annabeth frowned, knitting her eyebrows together. "But we just. . ."

"Raced." Percy cut her off with a chuckle. "You should be able to tell me the difference between running and walking, Wise Girl."

Annabeth smiled slowly until she was grinning like a bride would on her wedding day. "Okay, Perce. Lead on."

"With pleasure." For the third time it seemed like that day (though it was technically the_ next_ day since it was around 1:22am) Percy swept Annabeth off her feet, only this time he put her over his shoulder.

Annabeth began struggling and Percy couldn't withhold a smile. "Percy! I swear!" She flailed her legs and punched his back. Even if she was supposed to be trying to get down, she couldn't help but think of how muscular and firm Percy was. "You better put me - !"

Percy cut her off by plummeting into the water, Annabeth in tow.

Nico smirked from his spot on top of his cabin. He was so gonna use this blackmail on Percy the next day. It was just to good of an offer.

* * *

Percy could feel the coolness of the water, but thanks to the air bubbles around him and Annabeth, he didn't get wet. It's not like he would've gotten wet anyway, but something told him that if he had made Annabeth take a dip in the lake at 2:00am, he would be in the dawg house for a long time.

He might be a seaweed brain, but he wasn't _that _big of one.

Percy set Annabeth on her feet, the bubbles expanding slightly. Annabeth twirled around on her toes, taking in the underwater scene. Percy knew that she had never gotten to see the lake at night like this, so he had promised himself to show her.

The moonlight filtered through the seaweed casting a glow. Fish swam around them in schools of bright colors and the rippling water and currents almost created a holographic view. Annabeth desperately wished for a camera.

But what surprised and delighted Annabeth the most was that a bit farther toward the center of the lake seemed to be a small park. A paved sidewalk led to it and streetlights lighted the way.

Annabeth flung her arms around Percy's neck. "It's beautiful." She whispered before burying her hands in his hair, pressing her lips passionately against his.

Percy held her waist, his other hand holding the back of her blonde head. After a minute, Percy and Annabeth pulled away from each other, hearts beating fast. Percy smiled. "I thought you would like to see it."

Annabeth giggled, a little surprised by it. She never usually giggled. "Can we go see the park?"

Percy rolled his eyes. "No. I just brought you here so we could admire it from afar. Of course we can!"

Annabeth smirked, intertwining her and Percy's fingers. "I wonder what kind of architecture the naiads have!"

Percy willed for the air bubble to press against the bottom of the lake, hoping that they might be able to walk along the bottom without getting soaked. The bubble pressed against the lake bottom, the underside of the air pocket seeming to disappear beneath the sand. Annabeth and Percy's feet touched the bottom with the clear dome still over them. Now perfectly dry seaweed rubbed against their feet an ankles.

Percy released a breath he failed to realize that he was holding. "It worked."

Annabeth gave him a look like, _what? You just randomly did that with me here and didn't practice? _

Percy shrugged. "There's a first for everything right?"

Annabeth still didn't look convinced. "Sure."

The two walked down the cement path almost 26 feet underwater, slowly getting deeper as the park got closer. They made small talk for the 5 minute walk to the park, and as they walked on the winding paths throughout the park.

Naiads dressed in silk slips the color of seaweed and of the ocean danced in groups or pushed each other on the swings. Greek structures that looked similar to the ones at Camp Half Blood decorated the lovely park, and Annabeth stopped more than once to admire the craftsman ship.

"What do you think?" Percy asked suddenly. He had just finished pushing Annabeth on one of the swings which had been an interesting experience, water rushing past her even as she stayed dry. They began the short trek back to the camp, figuring dawn was coming.

"The architecture?" She asked, swinging her and Percy's laced fingers back and forth. "It was well structured and the craftsmanship was unbelievable. They could defiantly be fixed down at the bases of a few because if you looked really closely-"

"Not the architecture," Percy cut in. "I mean it was great, but I was talking about the books."

Annabeth pursed her lips. "What about them?" A school of rainbow trout swam past and one seemed to stop and smile at her. Percy gave it an annoyed look and it swam away hastily.

"I don't know." Percy admitted, rubbing the back of his neck. "I just don't see how these books could have been written. I mean, they're _my_ personal thoughts, opinions. How would someone get all of my memories? This is all more wack than Rachel's prophesies!"

A light bulb went off inside Annabeth's head as a very highly probable scenario popped into her mind. Her hand tensed in Percy's. "Say that again."

"This is all more wack than Rachel's prophesies!" Percy repeated. He could tell Annabeth had an enlightenment moment, but how she was able to figure it out, he had no idea.

Annabeth rubbed her eyes, a sudden jolt of fatigue swept through her body. "No. After that."

"How would someone get all of my memories?" Percy tried a second time.

"Exactly. Who is the only one who could have had access to _all_ your memories?" She made sure to put an emphasis on 'all.'

Percy's features darkened, realizing who she was talking about. "Hera. She took both mine and Jason's memories. But why would she make a series about me and not Jason?"

"I'm not sure. Maybe because she hates all children on Zeus. Maybe she just admires your bravery and loyalty." Annabeth suggested.

Percy kissed the top of her hand. "I know you admire me for it."

Annabeth rolled her eyes, but kissed him back nonetheless.

Percy willed the bubble to the surface. Annabeth climbed up the rusty ladder, not an ounce of water on her cloths. Percy climbed up after her. Together, Percy walked Annabeth back to Cabin Six. If he had to guess, they were gone for about an hour, so it was probably about 2:50am or so.

He leaned down, planting another goodnight kiss on Annabeth's lips at her doorstep. "Hoped you enjoyed our not-so-normal walk in the park."

Annabeth smiled, her voice labored from being tired. "Of course."

"Now get in there and go to sleep. You sound exhausted!" Percy shoved her playfully into the door.

Annabeth scoffed, rolling her eyes as she entered her cabin and closed the door.

Percy dropped from the side of the deck, grateful for the moonlight, otherwise he probably would have turned ankle. He noticed a dark figure standing on the deck of cabin 3, Poseidon's cabin.

Percy slowly drew Riptide from his pocket, creeping closer. He was about to trigger the blade when Nico's voice said, "How was your date with Annabeth?"

Percy rolled his eyes, shoving the ballpoint pen back into his jeans pocket. Nico was leaning against the door frame as if he owned the place. "What are you doing up Nico?"

Nico smirked slyly. "I'm a son of Hades. I'm supposed to be out and about after dark. The real question is, why were _you_ and _Annabeth_ out after curfew?"

"Oy," Percy pushed past Nico and into his cabin. Nico tried to make another, probably embarrassing, comment but Percy slammed the door in his face. Percy kicked off his shoes, then crumpled onto his bed too tired to answer more questions. Nick would understand—he hoped.

At least Annabeth had come up with a lead.

And with that thought (Annabeth) Percy drifted off to sleep.

* * *

**I'm soooo sorry if this is really bad. Like I said, I'm not very good at fluff. But... did I do a good job? I hope so. . .**

**~PFG**

**(Did I do a decent job?)**


	13. Hermes Campers Makes Things Go Boom

**Sorry it has taken a while to update. I've been bombarded with tons of homework. My teachers probably destroyed an entire forest with all the papers and packets they've been giving me. And I had to type out three papers for my classes this week alone, so I've been really tired. **

**I had also been putting more work towards my PPG story since it is almost done, I just need to figure out a way so that the final battle Good vs. Evil is epic. **

**But, please:**

** a) forgive me for the slow update**

** b) review**

** c) follow/ favorite**

** d) eat some waffles (long story involving my friend Haley, English class, a youtube video, and JB's song Boyfriend)**

** e) explain to me the difference between diffraction and refraction in physics**

* * *

**Chapter 10: Hermes Campers Makes Things Go Boom**

A soft sigh escaped Hazel's lips as she stretched her legs. The air in the cabin was cool and crisp, but she felt warm and comfy under her covers. Morning sunlight streamed through the eastern window, illuminating the cabin.

Hazel rolled over onto her back, cinnamon hair spilling out over her pillow. Her eyes locked on the wooden frame that held the bunk bed above her in place, although no one slept up there.

She was supposed to be excited about something. Suddenly, Hazel felt a tug of anxiety at the pit of her stomach. The book about Percy!

Hazel swung her legs out over the side of her bed, the air chilling her bones. Goose bumps formed on her bare arms. She tromped over to the trunk at the end of her bed, not slightly concerned about waking up her brother.

Nico was sleeping on the opposite side of the room on a bottom bunk. His legs were tangled in the blankets and his arms, feet, and head hung off the sides. His black hair was mussed and disheveled and drool seeped from the corner of his mouth.

Hazel rolled her eyes. She had half a mind to beat him awake with a pillow. Maybe. She held onto the idea as she stooped beside her trunk and flipped back the top. She pulled out a green t-shirt and Jean cut offs. She tied back her curly hair with a red bandana giving her that rebel look.

When she turned around, she almost had a heart attack. Nico was up and dressed for the day. His once crazy hair had been slightly tended to and he was out of his pajamas. His Stygian sword was lying across his still un-made bed.

"Morning." Nico greeted, as if he had been standing there the whole time.

Hazel tried hiding her rather obvious alarm. "How. . .? You know what? Forget it."

Nico grinned. "Whatever you say, sergeant commander."

Rolling her eyes, Hazel slipped into a pair of rather beat-up navy blue converse high tops. "You can be infuriating."

"It helps that I'm older."

"Not by much."

"Maybe for you."

"We are almost 75 years older than every one else."

Nico raised his eyebrows, playfully defensive. "Really? You had to bring that into this?"

Hazel laughed. "I'm going to find Frank. See you at the amphitheatre."

Nico tried to appear uninterested. "If I have too."

The daughter of Pluto opened the door, glancing back at Nico, grinning like an idiot. "Now you sound like Dionysus."

"Shit." Nico grumbled at the floor, a smile twitching at his lips. "That's not good."

Hazel rolled her eyes. "Whatever. See ya in a few." She heard Nico mumble something about Percy and revenge, though she couldn't be sure. Perhaps she had heard wrong, though she didn't think so.

Hazel strolled through the Greek camp without a worry as she made her way to the Ares cabin, which was where Frank stayed when they were at Camp Half Blood. She marched up the steps fearlessly, then pounded on the door a few times.

Some one screamed 'GET THE DOOR!' on the other side, then Hazel winced when something that sounded oddly like glass was smashed against something. Right when Hazel considered bailing, the door swung open revealing a big buff dude with stringy brown hair and eyes with the same burning fire that Ares did.

He stared down at Hazel gruffly and she shrank down a bit. "What do _you_ want, Roman?"

"Roman?" Hazel repeated, a sour frown on her face. Was this how they were going to degrade her self esteem? That was weak, targeting nationalities. Hazel figured that Drew could come up with a better insult and Drew was an idiot. A pre-madonna idiot. "I just wanted to see if Frank-"

"See if Frank—?" The Ares kid mimicked in a horrible girl immitation.

"Shut up, Gary!" A female voice yelled at him.

"You shut up, Arena!" Gary spat back, turning around.

"SHUT UP!"

Hazel jumped out of the way just as a battle axed whizzed out the door. She chuckled softly, moving away slowly. She felt a tap on her shoulder and she turned around, ready to deliver a sucker punch. Her eyes softened when she saw Frank.

Frank smiled, his eyes darting nervously to the Ares cabin. "Uhh, maybe we should take this conversation elsewhere." he suggested. There was more screaming and something else broke.

Hazel winced. "Let's go."

Frank took her hand and they quickly fled from the perimeter of the cabin. They jogged a couple of feet, making sure they were far enough away before slowing down to a walk. Out of no where, Hazel started giggling. Then she broke down into snorts of uncontrolable laughter.

Frank raised an eyebrow at her. "Is there something in my teeth?" he asked sarcastically.

That only made Hazel laugh harder. "What...the heck," she had to stop for a moment to take control of her breathing. "What the heck happened in there?" She made an X with her hands, then brushed it past her face in a swift motion. "An ax nearly missed my head!"

Frank chuckled. "Someone touched Kella's shield and she lost it. Everyone's been crabby since. I snuck off this moring and crashed with Percy in the Poseidon cabin about an hour ago. Gary and Arena are the twins and are always getting on each others' nerves."

Hazel sighed, her cheeks returning to their natural color. "They're crazy!"

Frank laughed along with her, the two of them swinging their laced fingers back and forth. When they reached the dining pavilion for breakfast, they were a little surprised to see it deserted except for Leo and Jason.

"Jason!" Frank called, as they made their way to their friends.

Leo crossed his arms, clearly annoyed. "Oh, so you say, 'hey Jason!' but theres no 'hey Leo?'"

Hazel smirked. "Shut up, Leo."

Jason and Frank greeted each other with a casual fist bump. "Morning." Jason greeted, combing a hand through his wavy blonde hair.

"Where is everyone?" Frank asked, looking at all of the empty tables. "This place is desolate."

Jason grinned. "Chiron told us to grab something to eat and meet at the ampitheatre. We're skipping a big breakfast, and Mr. Foodie over here is bumming out." He motioned over to Leo who was munching unsatisfied on a cereal bar.

Leo released a groan. "Demeter banned all awesome cereal from camp! Now all we have is..." He shuddered and his faciel expression looked like he just chugged a gallon of spoiled milk. "Whole grain and wheat."

"WHAT?!" Frank asked, a nervous edge to his tone.

Leo nodded slowly. "I know right. It's a sad day for everyone."

Hazel rolled her eyes. "You boys are hysterical."

Jason elbowed her in the side. "We like our cereal."

"Thanks alot Demeter." Leo muttered angerily. "I always eat Cap n' Crunch. The joy in my life—taken away."

Jason patted him on the back. "Its okay, man. We'll get through this," he said in a joking matter.

Hazel grabbed a juice box that was sitting on the Demeter table and an egg sandwhich that was also provided. Frank chose the same. Hazel hooked her free arm with Frank's, using her other one to hold her sandwhich. She took a bite. It was soo good.

"We should get to the ampitheatre." Jason said, starting toward the stone arena.

"Yep." Leo agreed, though he was still mourning his lost cereal bars. "Dont wanna miss any of the book."

"Agreed," Frank confirmed, as the four friends made their way to the ampitheatre.

"There they are!" Conner called, sitting on Travis' shoulders. They had grown impatient waiting for the other campers, so they tried looking for their friends in whatever means necassary that didn't bore them to death.

Hazel, Frank, Jason, and Leo tromped into the arena. Almost every camper's eyes were on them and Frank became very uncomfortable. He could tell that Hazel was too, because her grip on his hand tightened. He was happy to see Liam laughing next to Tizzy, their hands entwined. That sure happened quick.

Percy was grinning from where he was sitting between Annabeth and Grover. "What were you guys up to?"

"Demeter canceled Cap n' Cruch!" Leo exclaimed. Several Hermes kids gasped and began shouting out complaints.

"Shut up!" Miranda scolded. "All those sugary things are nothing compared to Demeter's whole grain stuff."

"Yeah right." Phoebe muttered.

"Uh, Miranda?" Katie tugged on her sister's green top. Miranda looked down at her. "Demeter's cereal really isn't all that great."

"Haha!" Leo called. "Katie even agrees with me."

"Oy," Annabeth facepalmed, leaning her head on Thalia's shoulder. "Make it stop."

Piper rubbed her temples as Jason plopped down beside her, Leo beside him, and Reyna on the other side of Leo. Jason wrapped an arm around her shoulder and pulled her close, so she perked up again.

Hazel and Frank mounted the steps to their spots beside Nico, Rachel, Clarisse, and all them.

"Hey, Clarisse." Rachel asked. Clarisse cast a suspicious glance at her. "What was all that screaming about in your cabin this morning."

Clarisse tried to with hold a growl. "I'd rather not go into it at this time."

Rachel scooted a bit to the right.

Chiron stood in the center of the pavilion. All eyes were on him in a matter of seconds. He cleared his throat, holding the book up. "Would anyone care to read this morning?"

"Sure!" Thalia exclaimed, sounding a little overly peppy.

"Thalia, are you alright?" Nico asked from behind her.

Thalia whipped around. "Yeah. Why?"

"You're really bubbly." Percy told her.

Thalia frowned, millions of volts in her eyes. "Shut up, Kelp Head."

"Aaaand, she's back." Grover teased.

Thalia rolled her eyes as she got up. She accepted the book from Chiron. She pulled out a dark blue bean bag chair from her Hunter bag. She smirked to herself as there were several protests. She plopped down on the comfy chair and began the next chapter.

**Chapter 10: I Ruin A Perfectly Good Bus**

"So Percy blows up a bus in this chapter, huh?" Reyna asked.

"Appears so." Piper answered.

"AWESOME!" Leo, Conner, and Travis exclaimed at the same time.

**It didn't take me long to pack. I decided to leave the Minotaur horn in my cabin, which left me only an extra change of clothes and a toothbrush to stuff in a backpack Grover had found for me.**

**The camp store loaned me one hundred dollars in mortal money ****and twenty golden drachmas. These coins were as big as Girl Scout cookies and had images of various Greek gods stamped on one side and the Empire State Building on the other. The ancient mortal drachmas had been silver, Chiron told us, but Olympians never used less than pure gold.**

"Yeah. No one seems to understand the meaning of 'loan.'" Chris muttered.

"It's not our fault that the bus blew up!" Percy defended himself.

"Theres a 99% chance that you _are_ the reason the bus exploded." Clarisse countered.

"Well, whatever." Percy pouted.

Annabeth laughed and kissed his cheek.

** Chiron said the coins might come in handy for non-mortal transactions—whatever that meant. He gave Annabeth and me each a canteen of nectar and a Ziploc bag full of ambrosia squares, to be used only in emergencies, if we were seriously hurt. It was god food, Chiron reminded us. It would cure us of almost any injury, but it was lethal to mortals. Too much of it would make a half-blood very, very feverish.**

** An overdose would burn us up, literally.**

"Thats something you shouldn't be told twice." Carmen commented.

Jonathan grinned sheepishly. "I need to be reminded on a regular basis. That stuff is too yummy. "

Faith rolled her eyes. "Idiot."

**Annabeth was bringing her magic Yankees cap, which she told me had been a twelfth-birthday present from her mom.**

"Do you still have that cap?" Hazel asked, vaguely remembering the blue cap Annabeth had on the Argo II.

Annabeth whipped out her cap and instantly disappeared. When she toook it off, she came back into view.

"Awesome." Sunny sighed.

**She carried a book on famous classical architecture, written in Ancient Greek, to read when she got bored, and a long bronze knife, hidden in her shirt sleeve. I was sure the knife would get us busted the first time we went through a metal detector.**

"Unless the Mist has anything to say about it," Darius, a Hecate boy said.

**Grover wore his fake feet and his pants to pass as human. He wore a green rasta-style cap, because when it rained his curly hair flattened and you could just see the tips of his horns. His bright orange backpack was full of scrap metal and apples to snack on. **

"Scrap metal as a snack?" Tizzy cried aloud, apalled. "All that material wasted!"

"Wasted?!" Grover tried to keep his anger controlled. "Tin cans are the best snack ever! They are not a waste!"

**In his pocket was a set of reed pipes his daddy goat had carved for him, even though he only knew two songs: Mozart's Piano Concerto no. 12 and Hilary Duff's "So Yesterday," both of which sounded pretty bad on reed pipes.**

"He's really good at the reed pipes now though." Annabeth cut in, defending her friend. Grover smiled at Annabeth.

**After we waved good-bye to the other campers, took one last look at the strawberry fields, the ocean, and the Big House, then hiked up Half-Blood Hill to the tall pine tree that used to be Thalia, daughter of Zeus.**

"Ahem. That daughter of Zeus is sitting right here." Thalia raised her eyes from the book and gave Percy an agitated look. Percy dismissed it by holding up a peace sign. Thalia rolled her eyes and continued to read.

**Chiron was waiting for us in his wheelchair. Next to him stood the surfer dude I'd seen when I was recovering in the sick room. According to Grover, the guy was the camp's head of security. He supposedly had eyes all over his body so he could never be surprised. Today, though, he was wearing a chauffeur's uniform, so I could only see extra peepers on his hands, face and neck.**

"Argus!" Liam shouted. He had been watching over him and Tizzy the day before when he had to go to the infirmary.

"One good thing comes from Hera." Clarisse mutters.

"Speaking of Hera..." Annabeth murmured, deciding not to bring up her speculation at the moment.

**"This is Argus," Chiron told me. "He will drive you into the city, and, er, well, keep an eye on things."**

"What a pun." Marc shook his head sadly.

"Weak," Travis agreed.

**I heard footsteps behind us.**

**Luke came running up the hill, carrying a pair of basketball shoes.**

Thalia felt her cheeks burning from the mention of Luke. She had had a crush on him when they had been traveling around the east coast with Annabeth. She really missed him, and tended to wonder if he had ever missed her the same way.

**"Hey!" he panted. "Glad I caught you."**

**Annabeth blushed, the way she always did when Luke was around.**

"I did not!" Annabeth protested, her cheeks becoming pink from embaressment.

"DID TOO!" the entire camp shouted back.

Annabeth scrunched up her nose, and leaned her head on Percy's shoulder. "Well, whatever."

Piper grinned. "It's okay, Annabeth."

**"Just wanted to say good luck," Luke told me. "And I thought … um, maybe you could use these."**

**He handed me the sneakers, which looked pretty normal. They even smelled kind of normal.**

**Luke said, "Maia!" ****and bird's wings sprouted out of the heels, startling me so much, I dropped them. The shoes flapped around on the ground until the wings folded up and disappeared.**

"What?" Chris exclaimed outraged. "Why did Luke get a pair of those?"

"It's nice to see that Hermes doesn't pick favorites." Ryan teased.

"Even if that favorite was a traitor." Liam spat.

**"Awesome!" Grover said.**

Grover shook his head. Being almost pulled into Tartarus was so_ not_ awesome.

Tyson smiled and clapped his oversized hands together. "Flying shoes sound very fun!"

Nico smirked. "Shadow traveling is even more fun."

**Luke smiled. "Those served me well when I was on my quest. Gift from Dad. Of course, I don't use them much these days…." His expression turned sad.**

"Faker!" Katie muttered.

"Mmm hmm," Frank nodded.

**I didn't know what to say. It was cool enough that Luke had come to say good-bye. I'd been afraid he might resent me for getting so much attention the last few days. But here he was giving me a magic gift…. It made me blush almost as much as Annabeth.**

"Wow, Percy. You must have been very grateful." Rachel teased, poking her friend's shoulder.

"Yeah." Nico agreed, a smirk on his face. "Especially since we all know how red Annabeth gets."

"Nico!" Annabeth stuttered, her face burning.

Nico, Leo, Jason, Chris and the Stolls snickered. Percy grinned as the daughter of Athena buried her face in his shirt.

Piper patted Annabeth's shoulder softly, trying to comfort her. Annabeth smiled at her friend.

**"Hey, man," I said. "Thanks."**

**"Listen, Percy …" Luke looked uncomfortable. "A lot of hopes are riding on you. So just … kill some monsters for me, okay?"**

"Then kill yourself and we'll say it was an accident." Jason mocked Luke's voice sarcastically.

**We shook hands. **

"Shaking hands with death." Frank whispered to Hazel.

"Almost as bad as shaking hands with Pluto." Hazel whispered.

**Luke patted Grover's head between his horns, then gave a good-bye hug to Annabeth, who looked like she might pass out.**

Annabeth swatted Percy across the chest. "Will you top pointing out my past crush on Luke!?"

"So you do admit it!" Leo pointed at Annabeth.

Percy ignored Leo and shrugged. "I don't know why."

"I know why." Katie cooed, twirling her hair.

"Me too,"Thalia smirked. She shared a look with Katie and they seemed to have shared a silent agreement.

"It's because Percy already had a crush on Annabeth." Katie continued.

Thalia's smirk widened as she watched Percy start to fidget uncomfortably. "That's why he was so perceptive of Annabeth's crush on-on...Luke." Thalia forbade herself from moping about Luke and to enjoy the discomfort her cousin was in.

"Shut up, Pinecone Face!" Percy spat at her. His eyes were dark and the lake was bubbling.

Electricity coursed through Thalia's eyes. "You're_ soo_ gonna regret that."

She made a move to get up and so did Percy, but Annabeth and Grover pushed him back onto the bleachers and Chiron got between them.

"Enough!" Shouted the old centaur. "No more of this talk. Or we will skip todays reading and do chores instead."

Thalia sneered at Percy, but continued to read in a angered mumble.

**After Luke was gone, I told her, "You're hyperventilating."**

**"Am not."**

**"You let him capture the flag instead of you, didn't you?"**

**"Oh … why do I want to go anywhere with you, Percy?"**

**She stomped down the other side of the hill, where a white SUV waited on the shoulder of the road. Argus followed, jingling his car keys.**

**I picked up the flying shoes and had a sudden bad feeling. I looked at Chiron. "I won't be able to use these, will I?"**

"Not a good idea." Tyson agreed. He was a little worried for Thalia and Percy because although they fought and teased each other, the last time they got that violent was when Annabeth had been kidnapped and the Hunters had stayed at camp.

"Nope." Christine from Iris echoed. She had reverted back to avoiding Conner, even though she could feel herself being attracted to him.

**He shook his head. "Luke meant well, Percy. But taking to the air … that would not be wise for you."**

"Unless it's on Blackjack." Percy amended.

**I nodded, disappointed, but then I got an idea. "Hey, Grover. You want a magic item?"**

**His eyes lit up. "Me?"**

**Pretty soon we'd laced the sneakers over his fake feet, and the world's first flying goat boy was ready for launch.**

**"Maia!" he shouted.**

**He got off the ground okay, but then fell over sideways so his backpack dragged through the grass. The winged shoes kept bucking up and down like tiny broncos.**

**"Practice," Chiron called after him. "You just need practice!"**

**"Aaaaa!" Grover went flying sideways down the hill like a possessed lawn mower, heading toward the van.**

Everybody laughed, and Grover blushed.

"Don't laugh at him!" Hazel scolded.

"Yeah!" Katie frowned at Travis who was still doubled over and laughing. Probably because it had been his dad's magic item.

"Sorry Grover," Annabeth apologized.

"It's okay." Grover replied.

**Before I could follow, Chiron caught my arm. "I should have trained you better, Percy," he said. "If only I had more time. Hercules, Jason-they all got more training."**

"Jason?!" Eliza Marie giggled, pointing Jason.

Jason blushed and Piper leaned her head on his shoulder. "No. I'm not that Jason."

Eliza Marie scrunched up her nose confused. "But, you're Jason!"

"Chiron meant the mortal Jason and the Argonauts." Piper tried explaining patiently.

Pollux tried coaxing his sister to let it go, but she was determined to get an answer. "But, Jason is a person. And a hero. But I didn't know that he was an astronaut!"

Jason tried not to sound annoyed. "No, Eliza Marie. I'm not an astronaut."

"But you just said—"

"Oh what the heck." Reyna interrupted. "Yes Jason's an astronaut and he's the Jason."

Eliza Marie's eyes widened. "Whooah."

Jason turned to Piper. "Apparently I'm an astronaut now."

Piper smirked, twirling a lock of his blonde hair around her finger. "You little achiever, you."

**"That's okay. I just wish-"**

**I stopped myself because I was about to sound like a brat. I was wishing my dad had given me a cool magic item to help on the quest, something as good as Luke's flying shoes, or Annabeth's invisible cap.**

**"What am I thinking?" Chiron cried. "I can't let you get away without this."**

**He pulled a pen from his coat pocket and handed it to me. It was an ordinary disposable ballpoint, black ink, removable cap. Probably cost thirty cents.**

"Or 30,000 drachma." Chiron asserted.

Percy took a sudden death grip on Riptide, which he had been absent mindedly turning in his fingers. "30,00?" He repeated. Chiron nodded. "Oh shit."

"Percy." Annabeth frowned at his choice of words.

"Yeah. Children are present." Rachel indicated Hazel and Nico in a joking way.

"Children!?" Hazel and Nico exclaimed together.

Nico pointed at Tyson. "He's more of kid than I am!"

"Let's remember that Tyson has a girlfriend and you dont." Clarisse told him.

Nico frowned defeated. Hazel giggled. Frank tussled Hazel's hair. Tyson beamed.

"Burn!" A boy from Hypnos shouted.

"Well, looks like someone has a one way ticket to the Fields of Punishment." Nico fumed. He smirked when no one else made a comment.

Unless Hazel ranting at him for threatening people counted.

**"Gee," I said. "Thanks."**

**"Percy, that's a gift from your father. I've kept it for years, not knowing you were who I was waiting for. But the prophecy is clear to me now. You are the one."**

"Kind of ironic how he had been wishing for a magical item from his dad, then lo and behold, he gets a magic pen." Travis pointed out, leaning forward in his chair a bit.

"Very ironic," Leo agreed, stroking his imaginary beard again.

**I remembered the field trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, when I'd vaporized Mrs. Dodds. Chiron had thrown me a pen that turned into a sword. Could this be … ?**

**I took off the cap, and the pen grew longer and heavier in my hand. In half a second, I held a shimmering bronze sword with a double-edged blade, a leather-wrapped grip, and a flat hilt riveted with gold studs. It was the first weapon that actually felt balanced in my hand.**

**"The sword has a long and tragic history that we need not go into," Chiron told me. **

"Poor Zoë," Thalia whispered missing her old friend.

"Freaking Hercules. What a bum." Piper groped, enraged at the stubborn son of Zeus. She and Jason hated Hercules almost as much as Percy and Annabeth hated Hera. Well, Jason and Piper hated Hera too.

**"Its name is Anaklusmos."**

**"'Riptide,'" I translated, surprised the Ancient Greek came so easily.**

**"Use it only for emergencies," Chiron said, "and only against monsters. No hero should harm mortals unless absolutely necessary, of course, but this sword wouldn't harm them in any case."**

"Which is lucky, or else I would have been Rachel-on-a-stick." For once, Rachel felt relieved to be a mortal, thinking back to Hoover Dam when Percy could have skewered her with Riptide.

**I looked at the wickedly sharp blade. "What do you mean it wouldn't harm mortals? How could it not?"**

**"The sword is celestial bronze. Forged by the Cyclopes, tempered in the heart of Mount Etna, cooled in the River Lethe. It's deadly to monsters, to any creature from the Underworld, provided they don't kill you first. But the blade will pass through mortals like an illusion.**

"That's alot of work for one piece of Celestial bronze." Marc whispered, becoming fatigued at the mere thought of all the work.

Tyson nodded. "Oh yes, much work to be done. First we have to collect all different kinds of metals— silver, gold, platinum-"

"That's alright Tyson," Chris cut him off. "We don't need an entire background."

Tyson smiled. "Okay."

** They simply are not important enough for the blade to kill. ****And I should warn you: as a demigod, you can be killed by either celestial or normal weapons. You are twice as vulnerable."**

**"Good to know."**

**"Now recap the pen."**

**I touched the pen cap to the sword tip and instantly Riptide shrank to a ballpoint pen again. I tucked it in my pocket, a little nervous, because I was famous for losing pens at school.**

**"You can't," Chiron said.**

**"Can't what?"**

**"Lose the pen," he said. "It is enchanted. It will always reappear in your pocket. Try it."**

"Woah." Pollux nodded impressed. "You are really good at reading emotions, Chiron."

Chiron grinned. "The best," he joked.

**I was wary, but I threw the pen as far as I could down the hill and watched it disappear in the grass.**

**"It may take a few moments," Chiron told me. "Now check your pocket."**

**Sure enough, the pen was there.**

"I wish I had a pen like that." Faith said.

"Yeah. I always lose my pens in general." Ryan said back.

Leo turned to Jason. "Can your little coin thing do that too?"

Jason fingered the coin in his front pocket. After his first battle against the giants alongside Leo and Piper, Jason's first coin sword thing had exploded. After they had defeated Gaia, Zeus had restored his weapon. "Nah. It just turns into a sword or spear depending on what side it lands on."

"That is still pretty awesome." Frank complimented.

"Hey!" Percy shouted.

"What?" Clarisse answered annoyed.

Percy stood up, Riptide as a pen in his hand. "Let's all remember that Jason's coin isn't the only one with two options."

"Options?" Annabeth quizzed him. She smirked because she had an idea of where Percy was going with this.

Percy rolled his eyes. "Thank you, Annabeth," he monotoned in an annoyed tone, though he was only kidding.

Annabeth stuck her tongue out at him.

"Where are you going with this Percy?" Piper asked.

"Yeah. I wanna get to the bus explosions!" Conner added. Travis gave him a high five.

Percy took the cap off of Riptide and it elongated into a sword. "A handy dandy sword for slaying your everyday monsters." He he took the cap and touched it to the end of the hilt and it shrunk down to an ordinary pen. "But also a business pen, for all your business transactions!"

Everyone groaned, but they still laughed. If they could do an Anime fall, then they would have.

"That was trippy." Thalia mumbled, hiding a laugh.

"Percy." Annabeth said sweetly.

"Yeah?" Percy asked.

"Sit down."

"You got it, baby." Percy squeezed back between Grover and Annabeth. He shot a smile at Annabeth, but she just frowned. "What?"

"You're hysterical."

"I try." He kissed her on the nose.

**"Okay, that's extremely cool," I admitted. "But what if a mortal sees me pulling out a sword?"**

**Chiron smiled. "Mist is a powerful thing, Percy."**

"You bet it is," Charles from Hecate approved.

**"Mist?"**

**"Yes. Read The Iliad. It's full of references to the stuff. Whenever divine or monstrous elements mix with the mortal world, they generate Mist, which obscures the vision of humans. You will see things just as they are, being a half-blood, but humans will interpret things quite differently. Remarkable, really, the lengths to which humans will go to fit things into their version of reality."**

"Unless you're Rachel or Percy's mom." Tyson added.

"True that." Grover bleated happily.

Rachel beamed.

**I put Riptide back in my pocket.**

**For the first time, the quest felt real. I was actually leaving Half-Blood Hill. I was heading west with no adult supervision, no backup plan, not even a cell phone. (Chiron said cell phones were traceable by monsters; if we used one, it would be worse than sending up a flare.) I had no weapon stronger than a sword to fight off monsters and reach the Land of the Dead.**

"Are you kidding?" Reyna asked in a mock excited tone. "Sounds like a blast."

Leo gasped dramatically. "Roman! I thought I knew you better than that!"

Reyna sighed. "I was kidding Leo."

Leo dropped the dramatic act. He draped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her close enough for him to kiss her. Reyna blushed when she looked up at Leo. He was smiling when he said,"Yeah. I know you were joking. You're too sweet for that."

Reyna blushed harder.

"Awwwwwwwwwwww!" Hazel, Piper, Annabeth, Rachel, Katie, Tyson, and even Clarisse cooed.

Reyna blushed even harder and she buried her face in Leo's shirt. Leo chuckled as he stroked her braid.

"How cute," Jason teased. Piper swatted him on the chest playfully.

**"Chiron …" I said. "When you say the gods are immortal… I mean, there was a time before them, right?"**

**"Four ages before them, actually. The Time of the Titans was the Fourth Age, sometimes called the Golden Age, which is definitely a misnomer. This, the time of Western civilization and the rule of Zeus, is the Fifth Age."**

**"So what was it like … before the gods?"**

**Chiron pursed his lips. "Even I am not old enough to remember that, child, but I know it was a time of darkness and savagery for mortals. Kronos, the lord of the Titans, called his reign the Golden Age because men lived innocent and free of all knowledge.**

** But that was mere propaganda. The Titan king cared nothing for your kind except as appetizers or a source of cheap entertainment. It was only in the early reign of Lord Zeus, when Prometheus the good Titan brought fire to mankind, that your species began to progress, and even then Prometheus was branded a radical thinker.**

"He's the guy who tried giving you some advice during the Titan War right?" Katie asked.

Percy and Annabeth nodded. "Yep. Dude was cool. To bad he sided with Kronos."

**Zeus punished him severely, as you may recall. Of course, eventually the gods warmed to humans, and Western civilization was born."**

**"But the gods can't die now, right? I mean, as long as Western civilization is alive, they're alive. So … even if I failed, nothing could happen so bad it would mess up everything, right?"**

**Chiron gave me a melancholy smile. "No one knows how long the Age of the West will last, Percy. The gods are immortal, yes. But then, so were the Titans. They still exist, locked away in their various prisons, forced to endure endless pain and punishment, reduced in power, but still very much alive. May the Fates forbid that the gods should ever suffer such a doom, or that we should ever return to the darkness and chaos of the past. All we can do, child, is follow our destiny."**

**"Our destiny … assuming we know what that is."**

"Destiny." Travis repeated. "Like blowing up a bus."

"Yeah. I want the bus to explode." Conner groped like a little kid.

"Thalia read faster!" Chris commanded her.

Thalia's eye twitched, then an arc of blue electricity coursed around her. "Shut up!"

Chris, Conner, and Travis gulped. Clarisse, Christine, and Katie giggled. (Well Clarisse was laughing, _not_ giggling.)

**"Relax," Chiron told me. "Keep a clear head. And remember, you may be about to prevent the biggest war in human history."**

**"Relax," I said. "I'm very relaxed."**

**When I got to the bottom of the hill, I looked back. Under the pine tree that used to be Thalia, daughter of Zeus, Chiron was now standing in full horse-man form, holding his bow high in salute. Just your typical summer-camp send-off by your typical centaur.**

"Every kid should have one at least once in their life," Piper babbled quickly as if she were a voice on an info commercial.

"It's fun for the whole family! Enroll today!" Jason finished with a hook- like motion as if he were inviting people somewhere.

"Caution," Frank picked up on the game. "Camp Half Blood is not responsible for any injuries or casualties."

"Death is nearly certain." Hazel joined, trying to keep from laughing at their info commercial roleplay. "Harpies are trained to kill on sight."

"Enjoy your stay!" Reyna finished.

Everyone shared a look before bursting into laughter.

Only Drew scoffed, filing her nails off to the side with a few kids from Aphrodite who still formed her little possy. "Ugh. You guys are _sooo_ lame."

"Shut up, Drew!" Piper snarled.

Drew smiled at her sweetly, making Piper want to punch her nose even more. Jason squeezed her hand and Piper sighed content, allowing herself to not get wound up about her beachy sister. (Play on words)

**Argus drove us out of the countryside and into western Long Island. It felt weird to be on a highway again, Annabeth and Grover sitting next to me as if we were normal carpoolers. After two weeks at Half-Blood Hill, the real world seemed like a fantasy. I found myself staring at every McDonald's, every kid in the back of his parents' car, every billboard and shopping mall.**

**"So far so good," I told Annabeth. "Ten miles and not a single monster."**

"You jinxed it!" Ember from Hephaestus exclaimed.

"Finally!" Liam grinned widely. "Some exploding stuff!"

"Yeah bro!" Travis gave his brother an air high five.

"What's with kids of Hermes and stuff blowing up?" Miranda mumbled annoyed. She was from Demeter, so she enjoyed bringing new life to the world. How did Katie fall for Travis Stoll's good looks?!

**She gave me an irritated look. "It's bad luck to talk that way, seaweed brain."**

**"Remind me again****—**why do you hate me so much?"

**"I don't hate you."**

**"Could've fooled me."**

"She played Cinderella in a play at her school once. Very convincing." Percy supplied.

Annabeth gave him a disgusted look. "Don't remind me."

"Big poofy dress?" Thalia asked.

Annabeth nodded.

Now Thalia looked disgusted. "Those are the worst."

"That's what she wanted?" Piper said to herself.

"What?" Frank asked.

Piper frowned, deep in thought. "How long ago was that play?"

Percy wasted no time answering the question. "About the 3rd week of April."

Piper shuddered. "Yep. That's what she wanted."

"Who wanted what?" Jason asked her.

"Aphrodite wanted my opinion on whether or not a light icicle blue or a navy blue would compliment Annabeth's grey eyes better."

Percy grinned. "Great choice, Piper. Wise Girl looked amazing in navy blue."

Annabeth blushed even though she still looked mad. "The color was nice."

"Aphrodite probably had a non-negotiable policy about the poofiness of the dress." Leo suggested.

"Probably. But it probably did you some good. You could use a decent outfit." Drew pursed her lips and flashed a smile at her small eye shadow mirror. No one payed any attention to her.

"Thanks Aphrodite." Annabeth muttered. All of a sudden her hair went from being messy and in a a sloppy ponytail to an elegant and curly updo— obviously Aphrodite's doing. "What?!"

"Mom!?" Piper shouted embarrassed.

"Beautiful," Percy leaned over and kissed Annabeth on the cheek.

"How adorable," Thalia and Nico teased together.

**She folded her cap of invisibility. "Look … we're just not supposed to get along, okay? Our parents are rivals."**

**"Why?"**

**She sighed. "How many reasons do you want? One time my mom caught Poseidon with his girlfriend in Athena's temple, which is hugely disrespectful.**

"Especially if his girlfriend is Medusa." Faith muttered.

**Another time, Athena and Poseidon competed to be the patron god for the city of Athens. Your dad created some stupid saltwater spring for his gift. My mom created the olive tree. The people saw that her gift was better, so they named the city after her."**

**"They must really like olives."**

"ironically, I hate olives." Annabeth revealed.

**"Oh, forget it."**

**"Now, if she'd invented pizza****—**that I could understand."

"Yeah. If it was pizza, I would side with Athena too." Leo grinned. He turned to Percy. "Sorry bro."

"It's cool. Pizza's good." Percy answered smirking.

"Yeah it is." Jason said.

"Pizza makes the world go round." Frank agreed.

"Of course you would say that, Zhang." Nico teased.

"Pizza is my favorite food ever." Conner added.

Travis pointed to himself. "Pizza and me, we just get along."

"True that." Chris clapped Travis on the back.

"What's with guys and pizza?" Katie asked.

Clarisse shrugged. "Pizzas good."

**"I said, forget it!"**

**In the front seat, Argus smiled. He didn't say anything, but one blue eye on the back of his neck winked at me.**

"You gotta be perceptive when you have so many eyes." Rachel relented.

"Even Argus recognized their potential." Lacy cooed.

"Aphrodite is really out to get me, eh?" Annabeth whispered to herself.

**Traffic slowed us down in Queens. By the time we got into Manhattan it was sunset and starting to rain.**

**Argus dropped us at the Greyhound Station on the Upper East Side, not far from my mom and Gabe's apartment. Taped to a mailbox was a soggy flyer with my picture on it: HAVE YOU SEEN THIS BOY?**

**I ripped it down before Annabeth and Grover could notice.**

"Oh, we saw it." Grover promised. "And Gabe defiantly gave the cops that picture." Percy grumbled. Grover with held a bleating laugh. In the picture, Percy's eyes had been wild and his hair was sticking up in random places. He looked like Tarzan.

**Argus unloaded our bags, made sure we got our bus tickets, then drove away, the eye on the back of his hand opening to watch us as he pulled out of the parking lot.**

Tizzy shuddered. "That is really weird."

**I thought about how close I was to my old apartment. On a normal day, my mom would be home from the candy store by now. Smelly Gabe was probably up there right now, playing poker, not even missing her.**

**Grover shouldered his backpack. He gazed down the street in the direction I was looking. "You want to know why she married him, Percy?"**

**I stared at him. "Were you reading my mind or something?"**

"I tried telling you, but no believed me!" Eliza Marie shouted, clearly annoyed.

**"Just your emotions." He shrugged. "Guess I forgot to tell you satyrs can do that. You were thinking about your mom and your stepdad, right?"**

**I nodded, wondering what else Grover might've forgotten to tell me.**

"Only that Thalia turned into a pine tree." Drew sneered.

"You'd better shut up unless you want me to fry you like bacon." Thalia barked.

"Girls!" Chiron scolded. "Enough of this bickering."

**"Your mom married Gabe for you," Grover told me. "You call him 'Smelly,' but you've got no idea. The guy has this aura…. Yuck. I can smell him from here. I can smell traces of him on you, and you haven't been near him for a week."**

**"Thanks," I said. "Where's the nearest shower?"**

"Is that smell still on me?" Percy asked.

Grover shook his head. "Just stained with Tartarus."

Tyson scrunched up his nose. "Not good smell."

**"You should be grateful, Percy. Your stepfather smells so repulsively human he could mask the presence of any demigod. As soon as I took a whiff inside his Camaro, I knew: Gabe has been covering your scent for years.**

"Repulsively human?'" Rachel repeated. "Not all humans."

"Not all." Grover clarified.

**If you hadn't lived with him every summer, you probably would've been found by monsters a long time ago. Your mom stayed with him to protect you. She was a smart lady. She must've loved you a lot to put up with that guy—if that makes you feel any better."**

**It didn't, but I forced myself not to show it. I'll see her again, I thought. She isn't gone.**

**I wondered if Grover could still read my emotions, mixed up as they were. I was glad he and Annabeth were with me, but I felt guilty that I hadn't been straight with them. I hadn't told them the real reason I'd said yes to this crazy quest.**

Annabeth cast a side long glance at Percy. She did have a hunch that that was the reason why he had said yes.

**The truth was, I didn't care about retrieving Zeus's lightning bolt, or saving the world, or even helping my father out of trouble. The more I thought about it, the more I resented Poseidon for never visiting me, never helping my mom, never even sending a lousy child-support check. He'd only claimed me because he needed a job done.**

**All I cared about was my mom. Hades had taken her unfairly, and Hades was going to give her back.**

**_You will be betrayed by one who calls you a friend_, the Oracle whispered in my mind. You will fail to save what matters most in the end.**

**_Shut up_, I told it.**

"Brilliant come back, Percy." Clarisse muttered sarcastically.

"I try." Percy replied with mock enthusiasm.

**The rain kept coming down.**

**We got restless waiting for the bus and decided to play some Hacky Sack with one of Grover's apples. Annabeth was unbelievable. She could bounce the apple off her knee, her elbow, her shoulder, whatever. I wasn't too bad myself.**

"I _sooo_ would have won if Grover hadn't eaten the apple." Annabeth said proudly.

"You wish," Percy countered.

"That apple was pretty tasty," Grover smacked his lips, as if her could still taste the apple.

Chiron chuckled at his two star pupils and star satyr. They didn't even know half of how proud he was.

**The game ended when I tossed the apple toward Grover and it got too close to his mouth. In one mega goat bite, our Hacky Sack disappeared-core, stem, and all.**

**Grover blushed. He tried to apologize, but Annabeth and I were too busy cracking up.**

"Haha!" Conner laughed.

**Finally the bus came. As we stood in line to board, Grover started looking around, sniffing the air like he smelled his favorite school cafeteria delicacy****—**enchiladas.

"Don't enchiladas usually have meat in them?" Nico asked.

Grover raised a brow like it was an outrageous question. "Of course, but there's always a vegetarian option."

Piper smiled. "Vegetarian enchiladas are the best!"

"I know right! Especially, when you get the right amount of guacamole—"

"Can you have this conversation later? The bus is about to explode." Kimmi from Hermes pleaded.

Piper and Grover reluctantly cut their vegetarian conversation short.

**"What is it?" I asked.**

**"I don't know," he said tensely. "Maybe it's nothing."**

**But I could tell it wasn't nothing. I started looking over my shoulder, too.**

**I was relieved when we finally got on board and found seats together in the back of the bus. We stowed our backpacks. Annabeth kept slapping her Yankees cap nervously against her thigh.**

**As the last passengers got on, Annabeth clamped her hand onto my knee. "Percy."**

**An old lady had just boarded the bus. She wore a crumpled velvet dress, lace gloves, and a shapeless orange-knit hat that shadowed her face, and she carried a big paisley purse. When she tilted her head up, her black eyes glittered, and my heart skipped a beat.**

**It was Mrs. Dodds. Older, more withered, but definitely the same evil face.**

"How comforting." Frank huffed. He morphed into a cat and snuggled into Hazel's lap. Hazel smiled warmly at Frank the cat and scratched behind his ears. Frank purred, black fur warming in the sun.

**I scrunched down in my seat.**

**Behind her came two more old ladies: one in a green hat, one in a purple hat. Otherwise they looked exactly like Mrs. Dodds-same gnarled hands, paisley handbags, wrinkled velvet dresses. Triplet demon grandmothers.**

**They sat in the front row, right behind the driver. The two on the aisle crossed their legs over the walkway, making an X. It was casual enough, but it sent a clear message: nobody leaves.**

"If you had been anyone besides Percy Jackson, you'd have been screwed." Nico informed his friends, not purposely trying to make the mood darker.

Percy shrugged.

Annabeth tried destroying the curly hairdo Aphrodite had given her, but it kept on fixing itself, never looking less than perfect. "Trust us, Nico. We were screwed in several other instances. Now is one of those instances."

"Cuz that hair style?"

"Yeah."

"You look weird."

"Thanks, Nico." Annabeth's stomach fluttered when Percy kissed her head.

**The bus pulled out of the station, and we headed through the slick streets of Manhattan. "She didn't stay dead long," I said, trying to keep my voice from quivering. "I thought you said they could be dispelled for a lifetime."**

**"I said if you're lucky," Annabeth said. "You're obviously not."**

"Obviously, since you fell into Tartarus and you were part of two Great Prophesies." Thalia pointed out.

**"All three of them," Grover whimpered. "Di immortales!"**

**"It's okay," Annabeth said, obviously thinking hard. "The Furies. The three worst monsters from the Underworld. No problem. No problem. We'll just slip out the windows."**

**"They don't open," Grover moaned.**

**"A back exit?" she suggested.**

**There wasn't one.**

"_Very_ unlucky." Travis supplied.

**Even if there had been, it wouldn't have helped. By that time, we were on Ninth Avenue, heading for the Lincoln Tunnel.**

**"They won't attack us with witnesses around," I said. "Will they?"**

**"Mortals don't have good eyes," Annabeth reminded me. "Their brains can only process what they see through the Mist."**

**"They'll see three old ladies killing us, won't they?"**

**She thought about it. "Hard to say. But we can't count on mortals for help. Maybe an emergency exit in the roof … ?"**

**We hit the Lincoln Tunnel, and the bus went dark except for the running lights down the aisle. It was eerily quiet without the sound of the rain.**

**Mrs. Dodds got up. In a flat voice, as if she'd rehearsed it, she announced to the whole bus: "I need to use the rest-room."**

"On the bus, because that totally makes sense." Leo quipped. People laughed.

"Announce it to the world, why don't ya?" Piper questioned. She left it hanging in the air.

**"So do I," said the second sister.**

**"So do I," said the third sister.**

**They all started coming down the aisle.**

"Following the leader."'Tizzy mumbled.

**"I've got it," Annabeth said. "Percy, take my hat."**

**"What?"**

**"You're the one they want. Turn invisible and go up the aisle. Let them pass you. Maybe you can get to the front and get away."**

**"But you guys-"**

**"There's an outside chance they might not notice us," Annabeth said. "You're a son of one of the Big Three. Your smell might be overpowering."**

**"I can't just leave you."**

"Loyalty." Rachel sang in a sing song voice.

**"Don't worry about us," Grover said. "Go!"**

**My hands trembled. I felt like a coward, but I took the Yankees cap and put it on.**

**When I looked down, my body wasn't there anymore.**

**I started creeping up the aisle. I managed to get up ten rows, then duck into an empty seat just as the Furies walked past.**

**Mrs. Dodds stopped, sniffing, and looked straight at me. My heart was pounding.**

"I would have totally freaked." Faith whispered.

"And you'd have to rely on me for protection." Ryan whispered back, twirling a loose strand of her brown hair that wasn't twisted up in the bun on her head.

Faith pouted. Jonathan tazered her sides with his fingers and she squealed in surprise.

**Apparently she didn't see anything. She and her sisters kept going.**

**I was free. I made it to the front of the bus. We were almost through the Lincoln Tunnel now. I was about to press the emergency stop button when I heard hideous wailing from the back row.**

**The old ladies were not old ladies anymore. Their faces were still the same-I guess those couldn't get any uglier- but their bodies had shriveled into leathery brown hag bodies with bat's wings and hands and feet like gargoyle claws. Their handbags had turned into fiery whips.**

**The Furies surrounded Grover and Annabeth, lashing their whips, hissing: "Where is it? Where?"**

"if only you knew that they were looking for the Helm of Darkness." Travis said.

"If only." Annabeth relented.

**The other people on the bus were screaming, cowering in their seats. They saw something, all right.**

**"He's not here!" Annabeth yelled. "He's gone!"**

**The Furies raised their whips.**

**Annabeth drew her bronze knife. Grover grabbed a tin can from his snack bag and prepared to throw it.**

**What I did next was so impulsive and dangerous I should've been named ADHD poster child of the year.**

**The bus driver was distracted, trying to see what was going on in his rearview mirror.**

**Still invisible, I grabbed the wheel from him and jerked it to the left. Everybody howled as they were thrown to the right, and I heard what I hoped was the sound of three Furies smashing against the windows.**

**"Hey!" the driver yelled. "Hey-whoa!"**

**We wrestled for the wheel. The bus slammed against the side of the tunnel, grinding metal, throwing sparks a mile behind us.**

"SWEET!" Liam exclaimed.

Thalia sighed. Liam was defiantly a son of Hermes.

**We careened out of the Lincoln Tunnel and back into the rainstorm, people and monsters tossed around the bus, cars plowed aside like bowling pins.**

**Somehow the driver found an exit. We shot off the highway, through half a dozen traffic lights, and ended up barreling down one of those New Jersey rural roads where you can't believe there's so much nothing right across the river from New York. There were woods to our left, the Hudson River to our right, and the driver seemed to be veering toward the river.**

**Another great idea: I hit the emergency brake.**

**The bus wailed, spun a full circle on the wet asphalt, and crashed into the trees. The emergency lights came on. The door flew open. The bus driver was the first one out, the passengers yelling as they stampeded after him. I stepped into the driver's seat and let them pass.**

**The Furies regained their balance. They lashed their whips at Annabeth while she waved her knife and yelled in Ancient Greek, telling them to back off. Grover threw tin cans.**

"It's more effective than you think." Grover commented when he got a few strange looks.

**I looked at the open doorway. I was free to go, but I couldn't leave my friends. I took off the invisible cap. "Hey!"**

**The Furies turned, baring their yellow fangs at me, and the exit suddenly seemed like an excellent idea. Mrs. Dodds stalked up the aisle, just as she used to do in class, about to deliver my F- math test. Every time she flicked her whip, red flames danced along the barbed leather.**

**Her two ugly sisters hopped on top of the seats on either side of her and crawled toward me like huge nasty lizards.**

**"Perseus Jackson," Mrs. Dodds said, in an accent that was definitely from somewhere farther south than Georgia. "You have offended the gods. You shall die."**

**"I liked you better as a math teacher," I told her.**

"LOL." Leo shouted. More campers laughed.

**She growled.**

**Annabeth and Grover moved up behind the Furies cautiously, looking for an opening.**

**I took the ballpoint pen out of my pocket and uncapped it. Riptide elongated into a shimmering double-edged sword.**

**The Furies hesitated.**

**Mrs. Dodds had felt Riptide's blade before. She obviously didn't like seeing it again.**

**"Submit now," she hissed. "And you will not suffer eternal torment."**

"I'm sure they're telling the truth." Reyna muttered sarcastically.

"They weren't." Hazel promised, scratching Frank the cat on the stomach. Frank purred happily.

**"Nice try," I told her.**

**"Percy, look out!" Annabeth cried.**

**Mrs. Dodds lashed her whip around my sword hand while the Furies on the either side lunged at me.**

**My hand felt like it was wrapped in molten lead, but I managed not to drop Riptide. I stuck the Fury on the left with its hilt, sending her toppling backward into a seat. I turned and sliced the Fury on the right. As soon as the blade connected with her neck, she screamed and exploded into dust. Annabeth got Mrs. Dodds in a wrestler's hold and yanked her backward while Grover ripped the whip out of her hands.**

**"Ow!" he yelled. "Ow! Hot! Hot!"**

"What would you expect?" Travis asked.

"Shut up, Travis." Katie told him.

**The Fury I'd hilt-slammed came at me again, talons ready, but I swung Riptide and she broke open like a piñata.**

**Mrs. Dodds was trying to get Annabeth off her back. She kicked, clawed, hissed and bit, but Annabeth held on while Grover got Mrs. Dodds's legs tied up in her own whip. Finally they both shoved her backward into the aisle. Mrs. Dodds tried to get up, but she didn't have room to flap her bat wings, so she kept falling down.**

"Annabeth, you rock." Christine praised with newfound respect.

Annabeth beamed.

"Don't get a big head, Princess." Clarisse warned jokingly.

**"Zeus will destroy you!" ****she promised. "Hades will have your soul!"**

**"Braccas meas vescimini!" I yelled.**

The Roman demigods started cracking up.

Jason gasped for breath as he tried to ignore Piper's lost stare. "Percy! Why would you say that?"

Percy blushed. "I don't know."

Frank had morphed back into a person and was leaning on Hazel, his stomach hurting from laughing.

Reyna was doubled over and laughing on the ground beside Leo's feet. Leo grinned. "Roman, I've never seen this side of you."

Reyna couldn't answer because she was still giggling.

"Reyna's lost it," Leo chuckled to Percy and Annabeth, who nodded.

**I wasn't sure where the Latin came from. I think it meant "Eat my pants!"**

**Thunder shook the bus. The hair rose on the back of my neck.**

**"Get out!" Annabeth yelled at me. "Now!" I didn't need any encouragement.**

**We rushed outside and found the other passengers wandering around in a daze, arguing with the driver, or running around in circles yelling, "We're going to die!"**

**A Hawaiian-shirted tourist with a camera snapped my photograph before I could recap my sword.**

"Dionysus?" Tizzy asked.

"No. Just fat with Hawaiian shirts." Percy responded swiftly.

**"Our bags!" Grover realized. "We left our-"**

**BOOOOOM!**

"YUSSSSSS!" The Stolls shouted together.

"Bus goes BOOM!" Kimmi from Hermes chattered excited.

"Explosion!" Chris grinned wickedly.

"Chill out!" Thalia snapped.

**The windows of the bus exploded as the passengers ran for cover. Lightning shredded a huge crater in the roof, but an angry wail from inside told me Mrs. Dodds was not yet dead.**

**"Run!" Annabeth said. "She's calling for reinforcements! We have to get out of here!"**

**We plunged into the woods as the rain poured down, the bus in flames behind and, nothing but darkness ahead.**

Thalia snapped the book shut. "Okee dokee! Who's reading next?"

* * *

**who else notice that the kid Margo likes in Despicable Me 2 looks kind of like how Nico would? Anybody? (Their voices are off though) **


	14. Team Peeta or Team Gale?

**Yeah! Super quick update!**

**;) thanks soooo much for reviewing my lovelies**

**It really motivates me to update quicker**

* * *

**Chapter 11: Team Peeta or Team Gale?**

Thalia got up from her beanbag chair and stretched. It felt good to stand up and stretch her legs. Halfway through the chapter, her legs had fallen asleep and started tingling.

Thalia held the book in front of her. "Anyone care to read?" She raised an eyebrow when no one responded. "Well don't all jump at me at once."

A loud sigh sliced through the silence from the center of where the campers were sitting. Faith stood up looking a little annoyed, like she was doing this just to keep everything moving. She was wearing a white tank top with gold trim, blue jean cutoff shorts, and black converse. Her long, chestnut hair was pulled up in her signature bun and a red ribbon was somehow tied in it. "I'll do it Thalia."

Nico made a aisle way between himself and the random kid on the other side of him so she could pass by. The son of Hades never usually fell for girls at all, but Faith was cute, funny, feisty, _and_ a little mysterious in her own right.

Faith tromped down the stairs, grumbling-public speaking was not her thing. When she got to the fire pit, Thalia handed her the book. Thalia smiled and said, "And because I like you, you can use the beanbag chair."

Faith grinned. "Thanks, Thalia."

"Anytime." Thalia replied. She combed a hand through her rat-nest hair, then jogged over to Annabeth and Piper, where she squeezed between them.

Faith glanced up, scanning the crowd for her brothers and sisters and Ryan. Jonathan motioned like he was gonna die of boredom. Sunny gave her a thumbs up. A few of her other brothers and sisters gave her encouraging looks. Ryan flashed her an arrogant smirk.

_Ooooh_, Faith thought to herself. Her eyes narrowed at her boyfriend. This was obviously going to become a competition, and there was no way she was gonna let that son of Athena show her up. So what if he was better at science and math related stuff? She was a child of Apollo- poetry? English? Literature? She could do this.

"Get on with it!" Drew shouted.

Chiron finally cracked. "Young lady, I have had enough of that behaviour! You are to clean the Pegasi stables, as well as the girl's bathroom!"

Piper snickered, but stopped when Chiron gave her a disappointed stare.

Drew scoffed. "Chiron," she cooed sweetly, "you don't really want me cleaning those nasty places do you?"

Piper wanted to scream. Drew was using charmspeak to get out of punishment again! But she held back her tongue, refusing to get into trouble.

Chiron held a perfectly straight face. Percy wondered if Drew's charmspeak had any affect. Chiron looked really, like _really_ pissed. "Charmspeak on me, Miss Tanaka?"

Drew gulped, a little surprised it didn't work.

"I would suggest that you get to work now, and perhaps Mr D will be kinder with his punishment."

Drew paled a bit. Tammi from Hectate smirked, snapped her fingers, and a broom materialized in Drew's hand. She looked speechless at first, then stalked off toward the girl's bathroom, cursing in Ancient Greek.

Reyna grinned. She was impressed Drew even _knew_ Ancient Greek.

Piper wanted to leap with happiness at Drew's humiliation, but settled for kissing Jason tenderly.

Chiron straightened his shoulders and regained his composure and friendly tone. "Miss Pierson, please continue."

Faith remembered her competition with Ryan and eagerly began the next chapter.

**Chapter 11: We visit the Garden Gnome Emporium**.

"Mr Mongoriums Wonder Emporium." Leo said.

"I really hated that movie." Rachel shook her head, hating the mere thought of the movie.

**In a way, it's nice to know there are Greek gods out there, ****because you have somebody to blame when things go wrong.**

"I guess you could put it that way," Carmen conceded.

**For instance, when you're walking away from a bus that's just been attacked by monster hags and blown up by lightning, and it's raining on top of everything else, most people might think that's just really bad luck; when you're a half-blood, you understand that some divine force really is trying to mess up your day.**

"I don't see how mortals could see monstrous hags attacking us anyway.." Annabeth pointed out. "The Mist would veil their eyes. It would look like oversized bats or something. That's what a demigod would call bad luck."

"Thank you for that wonderful tid bit Annabeth." Percy thanked sarcastically.

Annabeth winked. "I thought you'd like it."

**So there we were, Annabeth and Grover and I, walking through the woods along the New Jersey riverbank, the glow of New York City making the night sky yellow behind us, and the smell of the Hudson reeking in our noses.**

Jakey from Aphrodite made googoo eyes. "What a model first date."

"A picnic by the Hudson." Frank made a rainbow shape with his hands. "How romantic."

Hazel chuckled at the thought of a candlelit picnic beside a stank smelling river with murky water.

**Grover was shivering and braying, his big goat eyes turned slit-pupiled and full of terror. "Three Kindly Ones. All three at once."**

**I was pretty much in shock myself. The explosion of bus windows still rang in my ears. But Annabeth kept pulling us along, saying: "Come on! The farther away we get, the better."**

**"All our money was back there," I reminded her. "Our food and clothes. Everything."**

"If Riptide exploded -" Jason got cut off.

"EXPLOSIONS!" The Hermes kids exclaimed together, a little overly optimistic.

"If Riptide was caught in the catastrophic occurrence of fire and gas destroying an object," Jason restated, choosing his words carefully. Some people snickered at the long definition he chose for explosion. Some Hermes kids pouted. "Would it reform in Percy's pocket?"

Percy nodded thoughtfully. _Good question, Jason,_ he thought. Percy looked to Chiron for an answer.

Chiron pursed his lips. "Alas, no, Jason. If Anakulous happened to perish, it would be reformed in Poseidon's realm."

"Comforting." Katie muttered.

**"Well, maybe if you hadn't decided to jump into the fight-"**

**"What did you want me to do? Let you get killed?"**

**"You didn't need to protect me, Percy. I would've been fine."**

"Diced up like fresh bread, but perfectly fine." Conner teased. Annabeth shot him a look.

Travis grinned. "Bread. Like Peeta Mellark."

"I love that book!" Lacy shot up to her feet. "Best. Love. Triangle. Ever."

"I'm surprised you could read a book that big." Clarisse commented more to herself.

"Bread is good. Good is bread. I. Got. Buns." Leo rapped to the words of a Hunger Games parody Hazel, Rachel, and Annabeth made him watch. The camp broke down into hysterics. "Get it?"

"Yes! We get it!" Thalia managed through strained laughter.

"Because buns can mean bread but it can also mean -"

"LEO!" Faith squealed, her stomach hurting from the new set of giggles.

**"Sliced like sandwich bread," Grover put in, "but fine."**

More snickers.

Lacy squealed again. "Team Peeta!"

"No way! Team Gale!" A different girl shouted.

"Ladies. Why be Gale or Peeta when you can be team Leo?" Leo made a weird face and a couple girls swooned.

Reyna gave him a look. "Team Leo? I should be the only one on Team Leo."

"Back off sista!" Some other girl shouted.

"Who said that!?" Reyna growled, both hands clenching into fists.

"Uh oh..." Grover whispered to Annabeth, Percy, Thalia, and Tyson.

"Uh oh is right." Tyson nodded, eyes wide.

**"Shut up, goat boy," said Annabeth.**

**Grover brayed mournfully. "Tin cans … a perfectly good bag of tin cans."**

**We sloshed across mushy ground, through nasty twisted trees that smelled like sour laundry.**

"And that makes sense." Chris bobbed his head and wiped some sweat from his forehead.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Percy challanged.

"Dude, your cabin is a pig stye." Conner said.

"Was." Annabeth corrected. "Piper, Hazel and I cleaned it not long ago."

Percy grinned sheepishly.

Travis hid a smirk. "He works fast."

"It's trashed again?" Hazel whined annoyed.

"Um yes." Frank reluctantly answered.

"Wha- what?" Piper's jaw dropped.

"There goes the eight and a half hours of grueling torture that we suffered through." Annabeth grumbled.

"Eww." Rachel sympathized. She had gotten to camp a few days after their 'room cleaning excavation.' "That place was rank."

Percy chuckled nervously again. "I love you." He directed toward Annabeth.

Annabeth gave him a side glance. "You'd better."

Percy grinned and kissed her cheek softly. Annabeth tried staying mad, but the butterflies in her stomach told her otherwise.

**After a few minutes, Annabeth fell into line next to me. "Look, I…" Her voice faltered. "I appreciate your coming back for us, okay? That was really brave."**

"Of course she wouldn't stay mad!" Ryan crooned, with a fishy face.

Annabeth's eye twitched. "Shut. Up. Rye-Bread."

Ryan narrowed his eyes at the nickname his sisters had given him.

**"We're a team, right?"**

**She was silent for a few more steps. "It's just that if you died … aside from the fact that it would really suck for you, it would mean the quest was over. This may be my only chance to see the real world."**

"Aside that it would really suck for you!" Clarisse quoted cracking up. She was laughing so hard, Chris was beginning to wonder if she had hit her head or something.

**The thunderstorm had finally let up. The city glow faded behind us, leaving us in almost total darkness. I couldn't see anything of Annabeth except a glint of her blond hair.**

**"You haven't left Camp Half-Blood since you were seven?" I asked her.**

**"No … only short field trips. My dad-"**

**"The history professor."**

**"Yeah. It didn't work out for me living at home. I mean, Camp Half-Blood is my home." She was rushing her words out now, as if she were afraid somebody might try to stop her. "At camp you train and train. And that's all cool and everything, but the real world is where the monsters are. That's where you learn whether you're any good or not."**

"Scratch that. Wanna _really_ test your skills? Take a 2 week vacation in Tartarus." Percy supplied.

"I can see the brochure already." Nico teased, although he still had nightmares about Tartarus.

"Relaxing swims .days along the Coctyus River." Annabeth added.

**If I didn't know better, I could've sworn I heard doubt in her voice.**

**"You're pretty good with that knife," I said.**

**"You think so?"**

**"Anybody who can piggyback-ride a Fury is okay by me."**

**I couldn't really see, but I thought she might've smiled.**

Annabeth rested her head on Percy's shoulder.

**You know," she said, "maybe I should tell you … Something funny back on the bus …"**

**Whatever she wanted to say was interrupted by a shrill toot-toot-toot, like the sound of an owl being tortured.**

"Thaaaaaanks" Grover said sarcastically.

**"Hey, my reed pipes still work!"**

**Grover cried. "If I could just remember a 'find path' song, we could get out of these woods!"**

**He puffed out a few notes, but the tune still sounded suspiciously like Hilary Duff.**

**Instead of finding a path, I immediately slammed into a tree and got a nice-size knot on my head.**

"Probably Demeter." An Ares boy said.

"Was not, jerk!" Maria and Miranda shouted together.

**Add to the list of superpowers I did not have: infrared vision.**

**After tripping and cursing and generally feeling miserable for another mile or so, I started to see light up ahead: the colors of a neon sign. I could smell food. Fried, greasy, excellent food. **

**I realized I hadn't eaten anything unhealthy since I'd arrived at Half-Blood Hill, where we lived on grapes, bread, cheese, and extra-lean-cut nymph-prepared barbecue. This boy needed a double cheeseburger.**

"I'm surprised that you can survive living here, Leo." Ember commented at her brother.

Leo faked a wince. "I legit could use some processed food about now," he relented.

"Arnt we all?" Travis asked in a joking manner.

"I'm perfectly fine with organic food." Katie countered, jabbing Travis in the side.

Eliza Marie giggled. "Like the grapes that Daddy grows for me!"

Once again, Percy was taken back by how much Mr D really seemed to care for his kids, even though he resembled an intoxicated walrus most of the time.

**We kept walking until I saw a deserted two-lane road through the trees. On the other side was a closed-down gas station, a tattered billboard for a 1990s movie, and one open business, which was the source of the neon light and the good smell.**

**It wasn't a fast-food restaurant like I'd hoped. It was one of those weird roadside curio shops that sell lawn flamingos and wooden Indians and cement grizzly bears and stuff like that. The main building was a long, low warehouse, surrounded by acres of statuary. **

**The neon sign above the gate was impossible for me to read, because if there's anything worse for my dyslexia than regular English, it's red cursive neon English.**

**To me, it looked like:**

"How the Hades am I supposed to read that?" Faith asked, knitting her eyebrows together, frustrated.

"Try your best." Chiron encouraged her.

**ATNYU MES GDERAN GOMEN MEPROUIM.**

"You sounded like you were chanting a spell or something like that." Nico pointed out.

"Of course you would know everything about spells now, wouldn't ya Nico?" Faith answered, winking with a smile.

Nico felt his stomach flutter and he hoped he wasn't blushing as hard as he thought.

Ryan frowned, becoming a little bit more protective of his girlfriend. He wasn't sure about Nico hanging out with the daughter of Apollo.

**"What the heck does that say?" I asked.**

**"I don't know," Annabeth said.**

**She loved reading so much, I'd forgotten she was dyslexic, too.**

"Thanks for pointing out my flaws again, Seaweed Brain." Annabeth huffed. She was still furiously trying to pull out her curly locks from the complicated swirls and the way it was pinned to her head. Silently, Annabeth wondered if Aphrodite was the goddess of hairdressers as well.

Percy shrugged, grinning. "I think nothing but positive thoughts."

"At least dyslexia doesn't affect your eating!" Frank scolded. "I'm lactose intolerance."

Chris bit his knuckles to keep from shrieking. He was genuinely horrified. "That's cold, bro. No ice cream."

"NO ICE CREAM?" Conner, Travis, Liam, and Leo exclaimed.

"Boys are infuriating," Carmen whispered to Phoebe.

Phoebe nodded. "Always complaining about stupid things."

**Grover translated: "Aunty Em's Garden Gnome Emporium."**

**Flanking the entrance, as advertised, were two cement garden gnomes, ugly bearded little runts, smiling and waving, as if they were about to get their picture taken.**

**I crossed the street, following the smell of the hamburgers.**

**"Hey …" Grover warned.**

**"The lights are on inside," Annabeth said. "Maybe it's open."**

**"Snack bar," I said wistfully.**

**"Snack bar," she agreed.**

**"Are you two crazy?" Grover said. "This place is weird."**

"They're crazy!" Thalia, Nico, Tyson, and Rachel said together.

"Crazy with hunger," Thalia said.

"Crazy from sleep deprivation." Nico added.

"Crazy from scary ladies!" Tyson curled his fingers to look like claws and made a pretty creepy face. He pounced on Grover playfully and he yelped surprised.

"Crazy about each other!" Rachel cooed dreamily. When she snapped out of her dazed state, most of her friends were staring at her awkwardly. "Wha-what?" She began fidgeting with her curly red hair.

Percy and Annabeth blushed at the comment.

**We ignored him.**

"Ignoring the protector, who can smell monsters mind you, is such a wise idea." Grover said sarcastically.

Percy and Annabeth _ignored_ the comment.

Chiron chuckled softly at them.

**The front lot was a forest of statues: cement animals, cement children, even a cement satyr playing the pipes, which gave Grover the creeps.**

**"Bla-ha-ha!" he bleated. "Looks like my Uncle Ferdinand!"**

**We stopped at the warehouse door.**

**"Don't knock," Grover pleaded. "I smell monsters."**

**"Your nose is clogged up from the Furies," Annabeth told him. "All I smell is burgers. Aren't you hungry?"**

**"Meat!" he said scornfully. "I'm a vegetarian."**

"Vegetarians are awesome!" Piper announced loudly.

Grover leaned over Percy, Annabeth, and Thalia as did Piper slightly over Thalia so they could fist bump. "Vegatarians unite!" Grover bleated happily.

"We should start a club." Piper suggested.

"We should!"

"You two are weird." Jason stated flatly with a goofy smile on his face.

"Vegatarian club?" Clarisse asked, as if she couldn't believe that it was said, let alone her repeating it.

"Haters gonna hate." Piper countered.

"Y'all just jealous because we have guacamole." Grover crossed his arms in a a gangster way.

"Boo yah!" Piper grinned.

"Awka-awkward." Leo whispered to Reyna and Jason. Jason and Reyna snorted.

**"You eat cheese enchiladas and aluminum cans," I reminded him.**

**"Those are vegetables. Come on. Let's leave. These statues are … looking at me."**

"Cheese and aluminum are definitely vegetables." Katie pointed out with a sarcastic edge.

"Not even just aluminum, but aluminum cans even." Glen from Demeter bobbed his head, one brow raised in disbelief.

"You have to plant the bottle cap and _Pop_! Out comes a can." Miranda summed up.

Grover blushed. "It uh, was an accident?" It came out more of question than statement.

**Then the door creaked open, and standing in front of us was a tall Middle Eastern woman-at least, I assumed she was Middle Eastern, because she wore a long black gown that covered everything but her hands, and her head was completely veiled. **

**Her eyes glinted behind a curtain of black gauze, but that was about all I could make out. Her coffee-colored hands looked old, but well-manicured and elegant, so I imagined she was a grandmother who had once been a beautiful lady.**

"Thanks for the in depth description, Percy. Now I'm going to have nightmares." Hazel shuddered.

Nico flicked her on the back of the head. "Toughen up, Hazel. You're a child of Hades!"

"Pluto."

"Whatever."

"Tomato. Tamato." Katie added in.

Tyson licked his lips. "Tomato."

"Of course a Demeter kid would choose a vegetable analogy." Conner teased his brother's girlfriend.

**Her accent sounded vaguely Middle Eastern, too. She said, "Children, it is too late to be out all alone. Where are your parents?"**

**"They're … um …" Annabeth started to say.**

**"We're orphans," I said.**

**"Orphans?" the woman said. The word sounded alien in her mouth. "But, my dears! Surely not!"**

"What an unconvincing lie!" Pollux pursed his lips and shook his head.

**"We got separated from our caravan," I said. "Our circus caravan. The ringmaster told us to meet him at the gas station if we got lost, but he may have forgotten, or maybe he meant a different gas station. Anyway, we're lost. Is that food I smell?"**

"If she believed that, I might cry," Faith mourned. She knew how to tell a convincing lie. Was that a good thing? She needed to stop hanging out with the Hermes girls...

"You'll cry?" Travis exclaimed, in a way that said, 'how would you know a good lie? You're from Apollo, not Hermes.' A Hermes girl, Melissa, leaned over and whispered something to him. He relaxed when she finished whispering. "Nevermind. You're cool."

Nico grinned to himself, amused by Faith's annoyed look.

Ryan tried to look nonchalant as he narrowed his eyes at Nico. He really wasn't liking Nico right now.

Someone leaned closer to him. "Over protective much?" A sweet voice asked.

Ryan whipped around. He became a bit more annoyed when it turned out to be love sick Lacy from Aphrodite. "Pfft. No." He lied, turning around. He clamped his fist when he heard her giggling.

**"Oh, my dears," the woman said. "You must come in, poor children. I am Aunty Em. Go straight through to the back of the warehouse, please. There is a dining area."**

"Who is this scary lady?" Tyson asked.

"Meduuuuuusa!" Clarisse stretched the 'oo' sound in Medusa to give it an eerie touch.

Tyson shivered.

**We thanked her and went inside.**

**Annabeth muttered to me, "Circus caravan?"**

**"Always have a strategy, right?"**

**"Your head is full of kelp."**

"Thus, Kelp Head." Thalia laughed.

Jason couldn't remember a time when his sister laughed so much. It was nice.

**The warehouse was filled with more statues-people in all different poses, wearing all different outfits and with different expressions on their faces. I was thinking you'd have to have a pretty huge garden to fit even one of these statues, because they were all life-size. But mostly, I was thinking about food.**

"That's a wise decision," Chiron commented, holding his man half up high. His voice was serious but sarcastic.

**Go ahead, call me an idiot**

"idiot!" Jonathan yelled at his sister.

Faith looked up startled. "What?" Then her expression hardened. "Don't call me that!"

Jonathan shrugged, grinning mischievously. "You said so yourself."

"He's right!" Marc sang in a sing song tone.

"You know that's not what she meant!" Annabeth interrupted.

The brunette shot Annabeth a thankful look before continuing her reading.

**for walking into a strange lady's shop like that just because I was hungry, but I do impulsive stuff sometimes. Plus, you've never smelled Aunty Em's burgers. The aroma was like laughing gas in the dentist's chair-it made everything else go away. I barely noticed Grover's nervous whimpers, or the way the statues' eyes seemed to follow me, or the fact that Aunty Em had locked the door behind us.**

"Stranger danger." Rachel joked.

"Locking the door? Little bit of a red flag." Piper put in.

"Hey," Percy said, coming to his, Annabeth, and Grover's defense. "It was dark. We were all starving and she put us in a trance."

**All I cared about was finding the dining area. And sure enough, there it was at the back of the warehouse, a fast-food counter with a grill, a soda fountain, a pretzel heater, and a nacho cheese dispenser. Everything you could want, plus a few steel picnic tables out front.**

"Why have a sweet set up when you kill all of your buddies?" Leo asked, horrified at the thought of a gorgon using a nacho cheese dispenser.

"Totally not swag tastic." Chris agreed solemnly.

**"Please, sit down," Aunty Em said.**

**"Awesome," I said.**

**"Um," Grover said reluctantly, "we don't have any money, ma'am."**

**Before I could jab him in the ribs, Aunty Em said, "No, no, children. No money. This is a special case, yes? It is my treat, for such nice orphans."**

**"Thank you, ma'am," Annabeth said.**

**Aunty Em stiffened, as if Annabeth had done something wrong, but then the old woman relaxed just as quickly, so I figured it must've been my imagination.**

"Would've saved us alot of trouble if it was." Grover muttered.

"Ain't that the truth." Annabeth mumbled back.

**"Quite all right, Annabeth," she said. "You have such beautiful gray eyes, child." Only later did I wonder how she knew Annabeth's name, even though we had never introduced ourselves.**

"red flag number two. If a random person knows your name, then it's gotta be a monster." Ryan said, remembering his first monster attack. He was about 6 when a old hobo who knew his name had tried getting him at his day care. If it hadn't been for his protector, Jimmi, he would've died.

**Our hostess disappeared behind the snack counter and started cooking. Before we knew it, she'd brought us plastic trays heaped with double cheeseburgers, vanilla shakes, and XXL servings of French fries.**

**I was halfway through my burger before I remembered to breathe.**

**Annabeth slurped her shake.**

**Grover picked at the fries, and eyed the tray's waxed paper liner as if he might go for that, but he still looked too nervous to eat.**

"Why didn't she just, poison their food?" Liam asked.

Thalia winced. Coming from Luke's look alike, it didn't sound reassuring to her.

Chiron regarded the question. With brief hesitation he answered, "Medusa takes pride in her statues. She would rather have her statues than dead corpses. Poison is just not her style."

**"What's that hissing noise?" he asked.**

**I listened, but didn't hear anything. Annabeth shook her head.**

**"Hissing?" Aunty Em asked. "Perhaps you hear the deep-fryer oil. You have keen ears, Grover."**

**"I take vitamins. For my ears."**

"Really?" Piper asked Grover.

Grover shook his head. "Nah. Just a cover up for my superhuman hearing."

"Cool bro." Percy shouldered him.

**"That's admirable," she said. "But please, relax."**

**Aunty Em ate nothing. She hadn't taken off her headdress, even to cook, and now she sat forward and interlaced her fingers and watched us eat. It was a little unsettling, having someone stare at me when I couldn't see her face, but I was feeling satisfied after the burger, and a little sleepy, and I figured the least I could do was try to make small talk with our hostess.**

**"So, you sell gnomes," I said, trying to sound interested.**

"At least she didn't warp your brains into thinking gnomes were cool." Nico joked.

Faith snickered. Ryan felt his envy increasing.

Annabeth chuckled, oblivious to her brother. "That would have been a nightmare."

"Not like it was already." Percy pointed out. "A nightmare, I mean."

"Just icing on the cake." Rachel commented.

**"Oh, yes," Aunty Em said. "And animals. And people. Anything for the garden. Custom orders. Statuary is very popular, you know."**

**"A lot of business on this road?"**

**"Not so much, no. Since the highway was built… most cars, they do not go this way now. I must cherish every customer I get."**

**My neck tingled, as if somebody else was looking at me. I turned, but it was just a statue of a young girl holding an Easter basket. The detail was incredible, much better than you see in most garden statues. But something was wrong with her face. It looked as if she were startled, or even terrified.**

**"Ah," Aunty Em said sadly. "You notice some of my creations do not turn out well. They are marred. They do not sell. The face is the hardest to get right. Always the face."**

"Persephone actually likes their scared expressions." Nico said.

"Why do we have such a weirdo for a step mom?" Hazel groaned.

"We told you so that Persephone is an annoying brat!" Alan from Demeter reiterated.

**"You make these statues yourself?" I asked.**

**"Oh, yes. Once upon a time, I had two sisters to help me in the business, but they have passed on, and Aunty Em is alone. I have only my statues. This is why I make them, you see. They are my company." The sadness in her voice sounded so deep and so real that I couldn't help feeling sorry for her.**

**Annabeth had stopped eating. She sat forward and said, "Two sisters?"**

"This was where I finally began catching on." Annabeth leaned forward.

"It's about time." Thalia laughed. She dodged a punch from Annabeth and laughed harder.

**"It's a terrible story," Aunty Em said. "Not one for children, really. You see, Annabeth, a bad woman was jealous of me, ****long ago, when I was young. I had a… a boyfriend, ****you know, and this bad woman was determined to break us apart. She caused a terrible accident. My sisters stayed by me. They shared my bad fortune as long as they could, but eventually they passed on. They faded away. I alone have survived, but at a price. Such a price."**

"Bad woman?" Malcolm repeated, venom in his tone.

"Medusa. Try bitch.." Maria agreed.

"Language." Malcolm warned her.

"My bad."

**I wasn't sure what she meant, but I felt bad for her. My eyelids kept getting heavier, my full stomach making me sleepy. Poor old lady. Who would want to hurt somebody so nice?**

**"Percy?" Annabeth was shaking me to get my attention. "Maybe we should go. I mean, the ringmaster will be waiting."**

**She sounded tense. I wasn't sure why. Grover was eating the waxed paper off the tray now, but if Aunty Em found that strange, she didn't say anything.**

"Kids are always eating weird stuff." Reyna joked. "What makes wax paper different."

"I used to eat bugs." Conner confessed.

"That's not a surprise coming from you, Conner." Christine shot back.

**"Such beautiful gray eyes," Aunty Em told Annabeth again. "My, yes, it has been a long time since I've seen gray eyes like those."**

**She reached out as if to stroke Annabeth's cheek, but Annabeth stood up abruptly.**

**"We really should go."**

**"Yes!" Grover swallowed his waxed paper and stood up. "The ringmaster is waiting! Right!"**

**I didn't want to leave. I felt full and content. Aunty Em was so nice. I wanted to stay with her a while.**

"Or forever." Annabeth raised an eyebrow at Percy.

Percy grinned sheepishly. "I was in a trance. Cut me some slack."

"Whatever you say, Seaweed Brain." She sighed.

**"Please, dears," Aunty Em pleaded. "I so rarely get to be with children. Before you go, won't you at least sit for a pose?"**

**"A pose?" Annabeth asked warily.**

**"A photograph. I will use it to model a new statue set. Children are so popular, you see. Everyone loves children."**

**Annabeth shifted her weight from foot to foot. "I don't think we can, ma'am. Come on, Percy-"**

**"Sure we can," I said. I was irritated with Annabeth for being so bossy, so rude to an old lady who'd just fed us for free. "It's just a photo, Annabeth. What's the harm?"**

"'It's just a photo, Annabeth. What's the harm?'" Annabeth immitated Percy in a bad version of his voice.

Campers laughed. (Clarisse and Leo doubled over laughing.)

Percy mildly blushed. "I don't sound like that."

Annabeth smirked, kissing him on the cheek.

**"Yes, Annabeth," the woman purred. "No harm."**

**I could tell Annabeth didn't like it, but she allowed Aunty Em to lead us back out the front door, into the garden of statues.**

**Aunty Em directed us to a park bench next to the stone satyr. "Now," she said, "I'll just position you correctly. The young girl in the middle, I think, and the two young gentlemen on either side."**

**"Not much light for a photo," I remarked.**

**"Oh, enough," Aunty Em said. "Enough for us to see each other, yes?"**

**"Where's your camera?" Grover asked.**

**Aunty Em stepped back, as if to admire the shot. "Now, the face is the most difficult. Can you smile for me please, everyone? A large smile?"**

**Grover glanced at the cement satyr next to him, and mumbled, "That sure does look like Uncle Ferdinand."**

**"Grover," Aunty Em chastised, "look this way, dear."**

**She still had no camera in her hands.**

"That's when I knew something was wrong." Percy said.

"Gosh, you're slow." Frank teased.

**"Percy-" Annabeth said.**

**Some instinct warned me to listen to Annabeth, but I was fighting the sleepy feeling, the comfortable lull that came from the food and the old lady's voice.**

**"I will just be a moment," Aunty Em said. "You know, I can't see you very well in this cursed veil…."**

**"Percy, something's wrong," Annabeth insisted.**

**"Wrong?" Aunty Em said, reaching up to undo the wrap around her head. "Not at all, dear. I have such noble company tonight. What could be wrong?"**

**"That is Uncle Ferdinand!" Grover gasped.**

"It's all a conspiracy!" Jonathan shouted.

"Bro, chill." An Apollo boy pulled Jonathan back down.

**"Look away from her!" Annabeth shouted. She whipped her Yankees cap onto her head and vanished. Her invisible hands pushed Grover and me both off the bench.**

**I was on the ground, looking at Aunt Em's sandaled feet.**

**I could hear Grover scrambling off in one direction, Annabeth in another. But I was too dazed to move.**

"Percy, how are you not dead?" Tizzy asked lighthearted.

Percy rolled his eyes. "You're so supportive."

"I'm serious though."

**Then I heard a strange, rasping sound above me. My eyes rose to Aunty Em's hands, which had turned gnarled and warty, with sharp bronze talons for fingernails.**

**I almost looked higher, but somewhere off to my left Annabeth screamed, "No! Don't!"**

**More rasping-the sound of tiny snakes, right above me, from … from about where Aunty Em's head would be.**

Tyson was shuddering and his teeth chattered. The campers didn't make a joke at the seriousness of the situation. Their friends could have actually died.

**"Run!" Grover bleated. I heard him racing across the gravel, yelling, "Maia!" to kick-start his flying sneakers.**

**I couldn't move. I stared at Aunty Em's gnarled claws, and tried to fight the groggy trance the old woman had put me in.**

**"Such a pity to destroy a handsome young face," she told me soothingly. "Stay with me, Percy. All you have to do is look up."**

Percy made a disgusted face. "I can't believe that she was flirting with me!"

"Ewwwww!" The Aphrodite kids gagged.

"She's a desperate one." Leo said.

"A desperate pedophile maybe." Jason said.

Thalia and Piper gave him a look like, ' you spend way to much time with Percy and Leo.'

**I fought the urge to obey. Instead I looked to one side and saw one of those glass spheres people put in gardens- a gazing ball. I could see Aunty Em's dark reflection in the orange glass; her headdress was gone, revealing her face as a shimmering pale circle. Her hair was moving, writhing like serpents.**

**Aunty Em.**

**Aunty "M."**

**How could I have been so stupid?**

"Kelp Head." Thalia said.

"Seaweed Brain." Annabeth supplied.

"Prissy," Clarisse and Chris said together.

"Coral Face," Katie said.

"Hurricane Hair," Leo tried.

"Impertinent." Grover said.

"Stupid," Travis smirked.

Percy mildly nodded. "I failed to realize all of the nicknames I had. I'm pretty popular."

"What about conceded?" Piper asked.

"Only you Beauty Queen." Leo responded with a grin.

**Think, I told myself. How did Medusa die in the myth**?

**But I couldn't think. Something told me that in the myth Medusa had been asleep when she was attacked by my namesake, Perseus. She wasn't anywhere near asleep now. If she wanted, she could take those talons right now and rake open my face.**

**"The Gray-Eyed One did this to me, Percy," Medusa said, and she didn't sound anything like a monster. Her voice invited me to look up, to sympathize with a poor old grandmother. "Annabeth's mother, the cursed Athena, turned me from a beautiful woman into this."**

**"Don't listen to her!" Annabeth's voice shouted, somewhere in the statuary. "Run, Percy!"**

**"Silence!" Medusa snarled. Then her voice modulated back to a comforting purr. "You see why I must destroy the girl, Percy. She is my enemy's daughter. I shall crush her statue to dust. But you, dear Percy, you need not suffer."**

**"No," I muttered. I tried to make my legs move.**

"Awww! Just like an Everlark moment!" Lacy giggled.

"Ever-what?" Justin from Ares spat.

Lacy sniffed her nose. "Katniss and Peeta shipping. Team Peeta!"

"Team Gale!"

"Team Leo!" Leo shouted.

"Leo!?" Reyna half scolded, half laughed.

**"Do you really want to help the gods?" Medusa asked. "Do you understand what awaits you on this foolish quest, Percy? What will happen if you reach the Underworld? Do not be a pawn of the Olympians, my dear. You would be better off as a statue. Less pain. Less pain."**

"Persephone is no better," Miranda shooed the idea.

**"Percy!" Behind me, I heard a buzzing sound, like a two-hundred-pound hummingbird in a nosedive. Grover yelled, "Duck!"**

"maybe I should have yelled hummingbird instead of duck." Grover thought out loud.

"Perhaps..." Percy chuckled, stroking Annabeth's hair as if she were a cat and he were a villain in a kid's movie. Every time a strand fell out of the complex hairdo, Aphrodite magically fixed it.

**I turned, and there he was in the night sky, flying in from twelve o'clock with his winged shoes fluttering, Grover, holding a tree branch the size of a baseball bat. His eyes were shut tight, his head twitched from side to side. He was navigating by ears and nose alone.**

**"Duck!" he yelled again. "I'll get her!"**

**That finally jolted me into action. Knowing Grover, I was sure he'd miss Medusa and nail me. I dove to one side.**

"Such confidence in your friends, Percy." Rachel chuckled.

"Thaaaanks," Grover said sarcastically.

"Sorry," Percy apologized.

**_Thwack_!**

**At first I figured it was the sound of Grover hitting a tree. Then Medusa roared with rage.**

**"You miserable satyr," she snarled. "I'll add you to my collection!"**

**"That was for Uncle Ferdinand!" Grover yelled back.**

**I scrambled away and hid in the statuary while Grover swooped down for another pass.**

_**Ker-whack!**_

**"Arrgh!" Medusa yelled, her snake-hair hissing and spitting.**

**Right next to me, Annabeth's voice said, "Percy!"**

**I jumped so high my feet nearly cleared a garden gnome. "Jeez! Don't do that!"**

**Annabeth took off her Yankees cap and became visible. "You have to cut her head off."**

"That's one way of putting it." Chiron smiled amused.

Annabeth hid a shy smile.

**"What? Are you crazy? Let's get out of here."**

**"Medusa is a menace. She's evil. I'd kill her myself, but…" Annabeth swallowed, as if she were about to make a difficult admission. "But you've got the better weapon. Besides, I'd never get close to her. She'd slice me to bits because of my mother. You-you've got a chance."**

**"What? I can't-"**

**"Look, do you want her turning more innocent people into statues?"**

**She pointed to a pair of statue lovers, a man and a woman with their arms around each other, turned to stone by the monster.**

"Of course it was a statue couple," Piper cooed.

Percy and Annabeth blushed. "We didn't even like each other then!" Percy protested.

"I liked Luke," Annabeth added softly. The words felt foreign and awkward in her mouth, as if it were just a lie. But she knew the words were once true and she was content that it was merely the past.

**Annabeth grabbed a green gazing ball from a nearby pedestal. "A polished shield would be better." She studied the sphere critically. "The convexity will cause some distortion. The reflection's size should be off by a factor of-"**

**"Would you speak English?"**

**"I am!"**

"No, Swedish." Marc said.

"What?" Chris asked.

"Nevermind."

**She tossed me the glass ball. "Just look at her in the glass. Never look at her directly."**

**"Hey, guys!" Grover yelled somewhere above us. "I think she's unconscious!"**

**"Roooaaarrr!"**

"No such luck." Phoebe muttered.

"I would've charged and chopped her head off!" Clarisse announced.

"Then you'd be dead, Clarisse." Percy told her.

"Who asked you Jackson?" She snarled back, self pride damaged a bit.

**"Maybe not," Grover corrected. He went in for another pass with the tree branch.**

**"Hurry," Annabeth told me. "Grover's got a great nose, but he'll eventually crash."**

**I took out my pen and uncapped it. The bronze blade of Riptide elongated in my hand.**

**I followed the hissing and spitting sounds of Medusa's hair.**

**I kept my eyes locked on the gazing ball so I would only glimpse Medusa's reflection, not the real thing. Then, in the green tinted glass, I saw her.**

**Grover was coming in for another turn at bat, but this time he flew a little too low. Medusa grabbed the stick and pulled him off course. He tumbled through the air and crashed into the arms of a stone grizzly bear with a painful "Ummphh!"**

"He wanted a hug!" Conner leaned over and gave Christine a hug.

Christine grunted and pushed him away.

**Medusa was about to lunge at him when I yelled, "Hey!"**

**I advanced on her, which wasn't easy, holding a sword and a glass ball. If she charged, I'd have a hard time defending myself.**

**But she let me approach-twenty feet, ten feet.**

**I could see the reflection of her face now. Surely it wasn't really that ugly. The green swirls of the gazing ball must be distorting it, making it look worse.**

**"You wouldn't harm an old woman, Percy," she crooned. "I know you wouldn't."**

"Or would he?" Leo joked.

"Chop her open like a pinata!" Ryan encouraged. Like Arachne, Medusa was a sworn enemy of all children of Athena.

"Pinata!" Tyson exclaimed happily.

"Candy!" Eliza Marie giggled.

"Unciorns!" Piper blurted out randomly.

"He's so fluffy I'm gonna die!" Travis quoted Agnes' line from Despicable Me.

Everyone laughed.

**I hesitated, fascinated by the face I saw reflected in the glass-the eyes that seemed to burn straight through the green tint, making my arms go weak.**

**From the cement grizzly, Grover moaned, "Percy, don't listen to her!"**

**Medusa cackled. "Too late."**

**She lunged at me with her talons.**

**I slashed up with my sword, heard a sickening_ shlock!,_ then a hiss like wind rushing out of a cavern-the sound of a monster disintegrating.**

**Something fell to the ground next to my foot. It took all my willpower not to look. I could feel warm ooze soaking into my sock, little dying snake heads tugging at my shoelaces.**

Faith felt her stomach flip.

Annabeth was sure her face was turning green. She forgot how nasty that had been. She had even been the one to pick it up! How gross! It had smelt like foul laundry mixed with the stank of Polyphemis' lair.

Percy noticed Annabeth's sick expression so he squeezed her hand. Her eyes fluttered a bit, but she still looked a little queesy.

**"Oh, yuck," Grover said. His eyes were still tightly closed, but I guess he could hear the thing gurgling and steaming. "Mega-yuck."**

"That is nasty beyond compare." Grover gagged, willing himself to not puke.

**Annabeth came up next to me, her eyes fixed on the sky. She was holding Medusa's black veil. She said, "Don't move."**

**Very, very carefully, without looking down, she knelt and draped the monster's head in black cloth, then picked it up. It was still dripping green juice.**

"Not even blood? What was Athena thinking?" Leo exclaimed.

Annabeth frowned. "She just wanted to punish her as horribly as she could!"

"Well, goal accomplished." Rachel said with a salute.

Annabeth tried to appear annoyed but secretly was holding back a few chuckles.

**"Are you okay?" she asked me, her voice trembling.**

**"Yeah," I decided, though I felt like throwing up my double cheeseburger. "Why didn't … why didn't the head evaporate?"**

**"Once you sever it, it becomes a spoil of war," she said. "Same as your minotaur horn. But don't unwrap the head. It can still petrify you."**

"Sounds like a trophy I want for my wall." Nico joked.

"For once, the boar's head is looking pretty good to me." Frank regarded the ugly boar head that was a symbol of Ares. In comparison to Medusa's head, the boar seemed like a harmless bunny.

**Grover moaned as he climbed down from the grizzly statue. He had a big welt on his forehead. His green rasta cap hung from one of his little goat horns, and his fake feet had been knocked off his hooves. The magic sneakers were flying aimlessly around his head.**

**"The Red Baron," I said. "Good job, man."**

**He managed a bashful grin. "That really was not fun, though. Well, the hitting-her-with-a-stick part, that was fun. But crashing into a concrete bear? Not fun."**

**He snatched his shoes out of the air. I recapped my sword. Together, the three of us stumbled back to the warehouse.**

**We found some old plastic grocery bags behind the snack counter and double-wrapped Medusa's head. We plopped it on the table where we'd eaten dinner and sat around it, too exhausted to speak.**

**Finally I said, "So we have Athena to thank for this monster?"**

Most of the Athena kids shot Percy an annoyed look.

Percy repositioned himself, feeling like he might be jumped.

**Annabeth flashed me an irritated look. "Your dad, actually. Don't you remember? Medusa was Poseidon's girlfriend. They decided to meet in my mother's temple. That's why Athena turned her into a monster. Medusa and her two sisters who had helped her get into the temple, they became the three gorgons. That's why Medusa wanted to slice me up, but she wanted to preserve you as a nice statue. She's still sweet on your dad. You probably reminded her of him."**

"I hope not. She is creepy!" Tyson stuttered. He didn't like how his dad had once been attracted to Medusa.

**My face was burning. "Oh, so now it's my fault we met Medusa."**

**Annabeth straightened. In a bad imitation of my voice, she said: "'It's just a photo, Annabeth. What's the harm?'"**

"haha!" Carmen giggled.

Annabeth grinned bashfully as everyone remembered her previous imitation. "I know. I'm awesome."

"Yeah you are." Thalia poked Annabeth in the side playfully.

Percy crossed his arms. "I told you i don't sound like that." Annabeth kissed him on the cheek. He cracked a smile.

**"Forget it," I said. "You're impossible."**

**"You're insufferable."**

**"You're-"**

**"Hey!" Grover interrupted. "You two are giving me a migraine, and satyrs don't even get migraines. What are we going to do with the head?"**

**I stared at the thing. One little snake was hanging out of a hole in the plastic. The words printed on the side of the bag said: WE APPRECIATE YOUR BUSINESS!**

**I was angry, not just with Annabeth or her mom, but with all the gods for this whole quest, for getting us blown off the road and in two major fights the very first day out from camp. At this rate, we'd never make it to L.A. alive, much less before the summer solstice.**

**What had Medusa said?**

_**Do not be a pawn of the Olympians, my dear. You would be better off as a statue.**_

"Pawn. That was more the phrase Gaia tended to use." Jason pointed out.

Piper shot up from her reclining position. "That's what I was thinking!"

Hazel rolled her eyes. "I just think Gaia and the giants just played to much chess. They're brains turned to mush."

Everyone laughed. Hazel blushed.

**I got up. "I'll be back."**

**"Percy," Annabeth called after me. "What are you-"**

**I searched the back of the warehouse until I found Medusa's office. Her account book showed her six most recent sales, all shipments to the Underworld to decorate Hades and Persephone's garden. According to one freight bill, the Underworld's billing address was DOA Recording Studios, West Hollywood, California. I folded up the bill and stuffed it in my pocket.**

**In the cash register I found twenty dollars, a few golden drachmas, and some packing slips for Hermes Overnight Express, each with a little leather bag attached for coins. I rummaged around the rest of the office until I found the right-size box.**

**I went back to the picnic table, packed up Medusa's head, and filled out a delivery slip:**

_**The Gods**_

_**Mount Olympus**_

_**600th Floor,**_

_**Empire State Building**_

_**New York, NY**_

_**With best wishes,**_

_**PERCY JACKSON**_

**"They're not going to like that," Grover warned. "They'll think you're impertinent."**

"What are you talking about? He is impertinent." Faith noted.

"Very true,"'Percy conceded with a smirk.

**I poured some golden drachmas in the pouch. As soon as I closed it, there was a sound like a cash register. The package floated off the table and disappeared with a pop!**

**"I am impertinent," I said.**

**I looked at Annabeth, daring her to criticize.**

**She didn't. She seemed resigned to the fact that I had a major talent for ticking off the gods. "Come on," she muttered. "We need a new plan."**

Faith closed the book. Personally, she would have rather read a different chapter, but it wasn't completely horrible. She handed the book to Chiron then made her way back to her seat beside Ryan.

When she leaned head her head on his shoulder, Ryan immediately draped his arm around her. When he caught Nico staring, he shot a arrogant look at him.

Nico narrowed his eyes at Ryan. He was crossing a boundary.

Chiron cleared his throat. "So far we have had Furies, a Minotaur, a hellhound, more Furies, and Medusa. Who would care to go next?"

* * *

**Hope you liked it! It would've been updated yesterday, but my cousin visited from L.A. so I was side tracked.**

**Plz review! **


	15. Poodles arnt Dangerous

**Sorry. This chapter would have been uploaded yesterday, but I was sooo sick when I got home from school, so I had to postpone working on this chapter until today.**

* * *

**Chapter 12: If You Haven't Noticed, Poodles arnt Dangerous**

Leo bounced to his feet, recoiling like a spring. He pretended to dust off his shoulders, then proceeded to walk over to Chiron. Leo purposely relaxed his shoulders and dragged his feet against the ground. His arms swung at his sides, giving him that mild gangster look.

"Nice swag, Leo!" Jason called to him, cupping his hands around his mouth to amplify his voice.

Leo grinned, running a hand through his curly brown hair. He shot Reyna a smirk and she felt her stomach flutter. He probably would have looked like a gang member with his stylish stride if it wasn't for his goofy hair and Teen Titans graphic tee.

"He almost has as much swag as Justin Beiber!" A girl from Hypnos shouted, giggling.

Reyna refrained from an outburst.

"No one, has more swag than my future husband!" An Aphrodite girl exclaimed.

"Your husband?" A different daughter of Demeter protested. "I actually met him in concert!"

"Ladies!" Leo called, slicking his hair back. His curly locks snapped back too it's original position. "There's no need to fight and—"

"Read the book, Leo!" Frank told him, mildly annoyed.

Leo puffed up his chest. "With pleasure, Frank."

A few kids chuckled.

Leo accepted the book from Chiron and positioned himself comfortably on Thalia's beanbag chair.

**Chapter 12: We Get Advice from a Poodle**

Rachel huffed."Poodles are not friendly dogs." She had a poodle when she was younger, but the dog always growled at her and nipped at her fingers. She ended up giving it to her friend and told her parents it got run over by a car.

"Little rat dogs. So are Chihuahuas." Clarisse muttered. She preferred larger dogs like Rottweilers and pitbulls.

**We were pretty miserable that night.**

"I hope it didn't rain." Hazel sympathized.

"It didn't," Annabeth responded.

**We camped out in the woods, a hundred yards from the main road, in a marshy clearing that local kids had obviously been using for parties. The ground was littered with flattened soda cans and fast-food wrappers.**

"What!?" Alberto fumed, expression hard as nails. As a child of Demeter, he felt a need to help protect nature.

"I know how you feel," Grover spat distastefully, remembering that painfully sad night for satyrs everywhere.

**We'd taken some food and blankets from Aunty Em's, but we didn't dare light a fire to dry our damp clothes. The Furies and Medusa had provided enough excitement for one day. We didn't want to attract anything else.**

"Very wise analysis," Chiron approved.

Percy pointed to Annabeth with his thumb. "She's the one who suggested it."

Annabeth beamed. "One of the first rules for survival is to never light a fire when enemies are hunting for you."

"That's just common sense," Thalia said.

"Not everyone has common sense, Thalia." Percy nodded his head toward Leo.

The son of Hephaestus was using the pause from the reading to draw a face on his hand using a black permanent marker. He looked up awkwardly when everyone got silent. "What? Are we ready now?"

**We decided to sleep in shifts. I volunteered to take first watch.**

"That's another example of not having common sense." Nico teased.

"Percy on first watch? Good way to get stabbed." Travis pointed out.

Percy frowned. "Why does everybody always like to hate on my IQ? I'm not moron."

Annabeth patted his hand soothingly. "Don't be ashamed of your stupidity. Embrace it, Percy!"

A few kids chuckled. Annabeth smirked at the blank look Percy had on his face.

She kissed him. "I'm kidding Seaweed Brain. Everyone knows you're really smart."

"Yeah. You're the smartest guy I know, next to Frank and Jason." Hazel comforted him.

"It's fine guys. I didn't need an entire philosophy." Percy said. He grinned as he squeezed his arm that was wrapped around her shoulders. "Well, I did like kissing."

"That's spectacular." Katie mused. Travis poked her side and she giggled. He took the opportune moment to plant a kiss on her cheek.

**Annabeth curled up on the blankets and was snoring as soon as her head hit the ground.**

"I don't snore!" Annabeth protested appalled.

Grover and Tyson shared a look.

"Actually," Tyson said, trying to break the news gently. "Annabeth does snore a little." He knew that from when he, Percy, and Annabeth were drifting aimlessly aboard the Princess Andromeda and in the Sea of Monsters.

Annabeth flushed while her friends snickered. "Tyson. . . !?"

Percy laughed. "Haha! You snore!"

"But!" Grover interrupted, picking at an old pretzel wrapper. "Percy drools alot and sometimes talks in his sleep."

Now it was Annabeth's turn to laugh and for Percy to blush. "Haha!"

"And Grover moans food in his sleep." Rachel teased.

Grover blushed.

Tyson smiled. "I'm just naturally perfect."

"Yes you are, Ty." Percy and Annabeth agreed together.

**Grover fluttered with his flying shoes to the lowest bough of a tree, put his back to the trunk, and stared at the night sky.**

**"Go ahead and sleep," I told him. "I'll wake you if there's trouble."**

**He nodded, but still didn't close his eyes. "It makes me sad, Percy."**

**"What does? The fact that you signed up for this stupid quest?"**

"Well, that makes me sad too." Chris imitated Grover's voice.

"Vegatarians Unite!" Piper defended awkwardly.

"Um. Okay. Whatever floats your boat."

"That would be guacamole."

"Your boat floats in guacamole?" Jason asked Piper.

Piper shrugged, her feather extensions bobbing. "Don't judge me."

"Would you be able to drown in guac?" Pollux wondered.

"Sure you could," Percy confirmed. He thought back to when he almost drowned in the mud in Alaska and when he, Piper, and Jason almost drowned in the poisonous water. He shuddered. "Definitely possible."

"At least you'd never get hungry." Conner pointed out.

"Unless you don't like guac," Ryan countered.

"Pfft! Who doesn't like guac?" Leo shunned the ridiculous idea.

**"No. This makes me sad." He pointed at all the garbage on the ground. "And the sky. You can't even see the stars. They've polluted the sky.**

"Camp is the only place I can see Zoë's constellation." Phoebe stated sadly.

Thalia looked at the ground, tears threatening. She missed Zoë, even if they argued for the majority of their aquaintanceship.

**This is a terrible time to be a satyr."**

**"Oh, yeah. I guess you'd be an environmentalist."**

**He glared at me. "Only a human wouldn't be. Your species is clogging up the world so fast … ah, never mind. It's useless to lecture a human. At the rate things are going, I'll never find Pan."**

**"Pam? Like the cooking spray?"**

**"Pan!" he cried indignantly. "P-A-N. The great god Pan! What do you think I want a searcher's license for?"**

"Wow. Grover sounded pissed off." Nico asserted, fixing the lapels of his aviator jacket.

Grover bit his lower lip and stared at the ground.

"Ya think?" Jason laughed, finding the animosity amusing.

**A strange breeze rustled through the clearing, temporarily overpowering the stink of trash and muck. It brought the smell of berries and wildflowers and clean rainwater, things that might've once been in these woods. Suddenly I was nostalgic for something I'd never known.**

"Pan..." Katie whispered. The name sounded sweet, like candy as it rolled off of her tongue. Demeter and Pan had once been really close friends being environmentalists and all, so Pan was sort of like her uncle

**"Tell me about the search," I said.**

**Grover looked at me cautiously, as if he were afraid I was just making fun.**

**"The God of Wild Places disappeared two thousand years ago," he told me. "A sailor off the coast of Ephesos heard a mysterious voice crying out from the shore, 'Tell them that the great god Pan has died!' When humans heard the news, they believed it.**

"Turns out he was just living in an obscure part of the Labyrinth." Rachel supplied.

"Dude had some big antlers." Nico said. "More than a 14 point buck."

Grover shot the son of Hades a disappointed stare.

**They've been pillaging Pan's kingdom ever since. But for the satyrs, Pan was our lord and master. He protected us and the wild places of the earth. We refuse to believe that he died. **

**In every generation, the bravest satyrs pledge their lives to finding Pan. They search the earth, exploring all the wildest places, hoping to find where he is hidden, and wake him from his sleep."**

"Heck, if he wanted to sleep, let the guy sleep." Clarisse interjected.

"Yeah," Leo affirmed. "If anything, he should invest in an alarm clock."

"That sort of defeats the entire purpose." Reyna informed him.

"Plus I doubt the Labyrinth has any plug outlets." Percy joked.

"Except maybe Dadelous' workshop." Annabeth said.

**"And you want to be a searcher."**

**"It's my life's dream," he said. "My father was a searcher. And my Uncle Ferdinand … the statue you saw back there-"**

**"Oh, right, sorry."**

"I feel the sympathy in his tone." Piper rolled her eyes.

"But Leo's reading." Travis said.

"Travis has an IQ of a guinea pig." Conner teased, punching his brother on the shoulder.

Travis ignored the comment.

**Grover shook his head. "Uncle Ferdinand knew the risks. So did my dad. But I'll succeed. I'll be the first searcher to return alive."**

**"Hang on-the first?"**

**Grover took his reed pipes out of his pocket. "No searcher has ever come back. Once they set out, they disappear. They're never seen alive again."**

**"Not once in two thousand years?"**

**"No."**

**"And your dad? You have no idea what happened to him?"**

**"None."**

"Possibly barbecued by Polyphemus." Chris conceded.

Clarisse smacked him. "That's Grover's dad you're talking about, idiot."

**"But you still want to go," I said, amazed. "I mean, you really think you'll be the one to find Pan?"**

"You went to save Annabeth from Atlas even though that seemed hopeless." Thalia pointed out.

Percy blushed. "Yeah, but that's Annabeth we're talking about."

Annabeth smiled, her cheeks pinkening. "Thanks, Percy."

Thalia grinned at her two best friends.

**"I have to believe that, Percy. Every searcher does. It's the only thing that keeps us from despair when we look at what humans have done to the world. I have to believe Pan can still be awakened."**

"He suddenly became really philosophical." Frank noticed. He stretched out his arms, then draped them around the back of Hazel's chair/bleacher. Hazel snuggled into the crook of his body.

"Mmmm hmmmm." Hazel murmured.

**I stared at the orange haze of the sky and tried to understand how Grover could pursue a dream that seemed so hopeless. Then again, was I any better?**

**"How are we going to get into the Underworld?" I asked him. "I mean, what chance do we have against a god?"**

**"I don't know," he admitted. "But back at Medusa's, when you were searching her office? Annabeth was telling me—"**

**"Oh, I forgot. Annabeth will have a plan all figured out."**

**"Don't be so hard on her, Percy. She's had a tough life, but she's a good person. After all, she forgave me…." His voice faltered.**

"Very good person." Piper cooed.

Percy and Annabeth blushed again.

"Annabeth is smart. She always has a plan." Tyson bragged for his friend.

"Tyson. You're so sweet."

Tyson blushed, a dopey grin on his face.

**"What do you mean?" I asked. "Forgave you for what?"**

**Suddenly, Grover seemed very interested in playing notes on his pipes.**

**"Wait a minute," I said. "Your first keeper job was five years ago. Annabeth has been at camp five years. She wasn't … I mean, your first assignment that went wrong-"**

"That'd be my brother..." Liam grumbled.

Tizzy patted his back.

**"I can't talk about it," Grover said, and his quivering lower lip suggested he'd start crying if I pressed him. "But as I was saying, back at Medusa's, Annabeth and I agreed there's something strange going on with this quest. Something isn't what it seems."**

**"Well, duh. I'm getting blamed for stealing a thunderbolt that Hades took."**

"Lightning bolt," Chiron corrected.

**"That's not what I mean," Grover said. "The Fur-The Kindly Ones were sort of holding back. Like Mrs. Dodds at Yancy Academy … why did she wait so long to try to kill you? Then on the bus, they just weren't as aggressive as they could've been."**

**"They seemed plenty aggressive to me."**

**Grover shook his head. "They were screeching at us: 'Where is it? Where?'"**

**"Asking about me," I said.**

"Wrong pronoun." Malcolm said. "'It' refers to an object. If they were looking for Percy, then they would use 'he' or 'him.'"

" , Mal."'Carmen praised sarcastically.

**"Maybe … but Annabeth and I, we both got the feeling they weren't asking about a person. They said 'Where is it?' They seemed to be asking about an object."**

**"That doesn't make sense."**

"I said so." Malcolm exclaimed.

**"I know. But if we've misunderstood something about this quest, and we only have nine days to find the master bolt…." He looked at me like he was hoping for answers, but I didn't have any.**

**I thought about what Medusa had said: I was being used by the gods. What lay ahead of me was worse than petrification. "I haven't been straight with you," I told Grover. "I don't care about the master bolt. I agreed to go to the Underworld so I could bring back my mother."**

"I'm sure anyone could figure that out." Faith murmured.

"Of course." Riva gave a smug look and looked prepared to start their usual vollies of insults.

"Whatever." Faith muttered, snuggling closer to Ryan who looked , but Nico appeared a little bit frustrated.

Riva pursed her lips, annoyed by the lack of insults.

**Grover blew a soft note on his pipes. "I know that, Percy. But are you sure that's the only reason?"**

**"I'm not doing it to help my father. He doesn't care about me. I don't care about him."**

**Grover gazed down from his tree branch. "Look, Percy, I'm not as smart as Annabeth. I'm not as brave as you. But I'm pretty good at reading emotions. You're glad your dad is alive.**

** You feel good that he's claimed you, and part of you wants to make him proud. That's why you mailed Medusa's head to Olympus. You wanted him to notice what you'd done."**

**"Yeah? Well maybe satyr emotions work differently than human emotions. Because you're wrong. I don't care what he thinks."**

"Sure. That's you being truthful." Reyna noted.

Percy squirmed in his seat. "It was true at the time." He lied.

Conner nodded. "Good try. I was almost convinced."

"Yeas." Marc agreed. "Almost a lie worthy of Hermes."

"Gee. That thanks." Percy grunted sarcastically.

**Grover pulled his feet up onto the branch. "Okay, Percy. Whatever."**

**"Besides, I haven't done anything worth bragging about. We barely got out of New York and we're stuck here with no money and no way west."**

**Grover looked at the night sky, like he was thinking about that problem. "How about I take first watch, huh? You get some sleep."**

**I wanted to protest, but he started to play Mozart, soft and sweet, and I turned away, my eyes stinging. After a few bars of Piano Concerto no. 12, I was asleep.**

"Better than nightmares right?" Jonathan tried.

"I bet you just jinxed it." Sunny told her younger brother.

**In my dreams, ****I stood in a dark cavern before a gaping pit. Gray mist creatures churned all around me, whispering rags of smoke that I somehow knew were the spirits of the dead.**

"Are you sure that you're not a son of Hades?" Jason joked.

"No. No. No. He's not my brother." Nico clarified.

Percy portrayed a hurt expression. "That hurt me, Nico. Hurt me real deep just now."

Nico scoffed.

Annabeth rolled her eyes.

Hazel tried processing the joke.

Clarisse huffed. "Don't be such a pansie, Jackson."

"You're kind." Reyna offered.

"Kindness is my joy in life," Clarisse responded harshly.

**They tugged at my clothes, trying to pull me back, but I felt compelled to walk forward to the very edge of the chasm.**

**Looking down made me dizzy.**

**The pit yawned so wide and was so completely black, I knew it must be bottomless. Yet I had a feeling that something was trying to rise from the abyss, something huge and evil.**

**_The little hero_, an amused voice echoed far down in the darkness. _Too weak, too young, but perhaps you will do._**

"Kronos! I called it!" Conner shouted.

"Nightmare! Jonathan, you jinxed it!" Faith thrusted a finger at her favorite half brother, except for maybe Micheal Yew.

"Wha!?" Jonathan stammered.

"You can't really jinx something that's already happened." Ryan noted dryly.

Jonathan cracked smile. "He's right! You're boyfriend just owned you, sis!"

Faith crossed her arms and grumbled. "Well what do you know?"

"Alot." Ryan filled in for her.

**The voice felt ancient-cold and heavy. It wrapped around me like sheets of lead.**

**_They have misled you, boy,_ it said. _Barter with me. I will give you what you want._**

**A shimmering image hovered over the void: my mother, frozen at the moment she'd dissolved in a shower of gold. Her face was distorted with pain, as if the Minotaur were still squeezing her neck. Her eyes looked directly at me, pleading: Go!**

**I tried to cry out, but my voice wouldn't work.**

**Cold laughter echoed from the chasm.**

**An invisible force pulled me forward. It would drag me into the pit unless I stood firm.**

"Luke's flying shoes..." Thalia recalled.

"This chapter is getting us nowhere!" Eliza Marie complained.

"Eliza, sit still and listen." Pollux chastised. "It's all important."

Eliza Marie grumbled unintelligible words.

**_Help me rise, boy._ The voice became hungrier. _Bring me the bolt. Strike a blow against the treacherous gods!_**

**The spirits of the dead whispered around me, No! Wake!**

**The image of my mother began to fade. The thing in the pit tightened its unseen grip around me.**

**I realized it wasn't interested in pulling me in. It was using me to pull itself out.**

**_Good_, it murmured. _Good_.**

**_Wake!_ the dead whispered. _Wake!_**

**Someone was shaking me.**

**My eyes opened, and it was daylight.**

**"Well," Annabeth said, "the zombie lives."**

**I was trembling from the dream. I could still feel the grip of the chasm monster around my chest. "How long was I asleep?"**

**"Long enough for me to cook breakfast." Annabeth tossed me a bag of nacho-flavored corn chips from Aunty Em's snack bar.**

"That's not cooking breakfast!" Frank exclaimed.

Leo laughed. "Frank's idea of breakfast is an entire carton of scrambled eggs and pancakes."

"Leo's idea of breakfast is 4 boxes of Cap'n Crunch." Frank shot back.

Leo stroked his fake beard—again. "Well played, Zhang."

"You too, Valdez."

**"And Grover went exploring. Look, he found a friend."**

**My eyes had trouble focusing.**

**Grover was sitting cross-legged on a blanket with something fuzzy in his lap, a dirty, unnaturally pink stuffed animal.**

**No. It wasn't a stuffed animal. It was a pink poodle.**

**The poodle yapped at me suspiciously. Grover said, "No, he's not."**

"He's not what?" Piper asked.

Grover grinned secretively. "I don't remember."

**I blinked. "Are you … talking to that thing?"**

**The poodle growled.**

**"This thing," Grover warned, "is our ticket west. Be nice to him."**

**"You can talk to animals?"**

"I could if they weren't scared of me." Tyson mourned. He sniffled.

Percy patted him on the back.

Frank morphed into a cat and curled up in Tyson's lap. Tyson smiled, and gently stroked Frank's black fur.

**I stared at Annabeth, figuring she'd crack up at this practical joke they were playing on me, but she looked deadly serious.**

**"I'm not saying hello to a pink poodle," I said. "Forget it."**

**"Percy," Annabeth said. "I said hello to the poodle. You say hello to the poodle"**

**The poodle growled.**

**I said hello to the poodle.**

"Way to give into peer pressure, Perce." Hazel smiled.

"That dog was mean." Percy answered.

Annabeth nodded. "It kind of was."

**Grover explained that he'd come across Gladiola in the woods and they'd struck up a conversation. The poodle had run away from a rich local family, who'd posted a $200 reward for his return. Gladiola didn't really want to go back to his family, but he was willing to if it meant helping Grover.**

**"How does Gladiola know about the reward?" I asked.**

**"He read the signs," Grover said. "Duh."**

**"Of course," I said. "Silly me."**

**"So we turn in Gladiola," Annabeth explained in her best strategy voice,**

"I don't have a 'strategy voice!'" Annabeth protested, embarrassed.

Percy caressed her cheek with the back of his hand. "I don't know how to say this simply, but yes. You do."

"Ugh."

"I know you love me."

**"We get money, and we buy tickets to Los Angeles. Simple."**

**I thought about my dream—the whispering voices of the dead, the thing in the chasm, and my mother's face, shimmering as it dissolved into gold. All that might be waiting for me in the West.**

**"Not another bus," I said warily.**

**"No," Annabeth agreed. **

"Dang it!" Marc spat.

"I want more things to go BOOM!" Travis complained.

**She pointed downhill, toward train tracks I hadn't been able to see last night in the dark. "There's an Amtrak station half a mile that way. According to Gladiola, the westbound train leaves at noon."**

Leo did a double take as he read the last sentence. "What the what?"

"What's the matter Leo?" Jason asked

"It's the end of the chapter."

"Well that was rather short." Rachel mused.

"This is an outrage!"'Leo exclaimed. "Chiron gets to read about the Dodds Fury and hellhound. Then Hazel got to read about the Minotaur. Thalia got to read about all of the furies. Faith got to read about Medusa...and I get? Ugh. A freaking PINK POODLE? If you haven't noticed, poodles arnt dangerous."

Leo shook his head exasperated. "This is an insult to Hernando Cortez."

Annabeth frowned. "Hernando Cortez was a Spaniord colonist who killed thousands of Aztec and Mayan Indians."

Leo rolled his eyes. "The point is, is that I'm reading the next chapter too."

* * *

**sorry if I got the history part at the end wrong. I think Cortez was a Spaniord...and I was 48% positive his first name was Hernando... Oh well. ;) **


	16. How Do You Spell Chihuahua?

**Chapter Thirteen: How Do You Spell Chihuahua?**

Leo stuck out his tongue as if he had tasted something bad. "Anyone have a mint?"

"Why do you need a mint, Leo?" Jason questioned his friend.

Leo shrugged. "I feel dirty."

"And, why is that?" Percy asked again.

"Talking about pink poodles reminds me of cotton candy. Hernando Cortez hated cotton candy. Pink poodles give me bad vibes." Leo answered.

Annabeth shook her head smiling. "Leo, cotton candy wasn't around then and neither were pink poodles."

"What are you even talking about?" Frank wondered.

"You sound like you're on meth." Clarisse pointed out.

Leo shrugged again with a grin. "I don't know."

And with that, he left everyone in a confused state as he carried on with his reading.

**Chapter Thirteen: I Plunge to My Death.**

"These chapter titles are just so peppy!" Travis said sarcastically. "_Three Old Ladies Knit the Socks of Death?' 'I Ruin a Bus?' 'Plunge to Death?' _These titles just bring nothing but good thoughts."

"Travis, you are the joy in my life." Conner pretended to wipe a fake tear.

"Oh my Demeter." Katie sighed, rubbing her temples. The Stoll brothers still knew how to infuriate her.

**We spent two days on the Amtrak train, heading west through hills, over rivers, past amber waves of grain.**

"What made you think 'Amber waves of grain' Percy?" Chiron asked.

Percy shrugged. "Maybe Demeter was manipulating my mind to want whole grain cereal?"

"Why do you ask, Chiron?" Thalia wondered skeptically.

Chiron pivoted his shoulders. "In Latin class, we discussed the song America the Beautiful and how it related to other countries— specifically Greece and Rome of course."

**We weren't attacked once, but I didn't relax. I felt that we were traveling around in a display case, being watched from above and maybe from below, that something was waiting for the right opportunity.**

**I tried to keep a low profile because my name and picture were splattered over the front pages of several East Coast newspapers.**

"Don't feel bad, Percy." Jason tried comforting him.

"Yeah. Jason's baby pictures were plastered all over the West Coast when everyone thought our mom had abandoned him." Thalia added.

Jason rolled his eyes. "Because that will totally help our friend out."

"Pfft. Me, Thalia, and Luke were wanted criminals for awhile when we were on the run for two months." Annabeth smirked. She and Thalia fist bumped.

Percy and Jason shared exasperated looks. It was better to let them believe that they won this round than trying to convince them otherwise.

**The Trenton Register-News showed a photo taken by a tourist as I got off the Greyhound bus. I had a wild look in my eyes. My sword was a metallic blur in my hands. It might've been a baseball bat or a lacrosse stick.**

"Mr D's look alike." Leo recalled, grinning at the book.

"Hawaiian shirt." Ember confirmed for her brother.

**The picture's caption read:**

_**Twelve-year-old Percy Jackson, wanted for questioning in the Long Island disappearance of his mother two weeks ago, is shown here fleeing from the bus where he accosted several elderly female passengers. The bus exploded on an east New Jersey roadside shortly after Jackson fled the scene. Based on eyewitness accounts, police believe the boy may be traveling with two teenage accomplices. His stepfather, Gabe Ugliano, has offered a cash reward for information leading to his capture.**_

"I don't understand why Gabe would want to find Percy at all since he doesn't give a Tartarus about him or Sally." Piper noted in an angry tone. Jason rested his hand on top of hers.

"Percy is still innocent until proven guilty." Chiron reminded her.

"Sally probably had a trust fund or something left for Percy in case something had ever happened to her. In order for Gabe to get his dirty mitts on that cash, Percy would either have to be dead or convicted of a felony." Malcolm explained, using his hands to emphasize different words.

"That's why the jerk wanted to find me?" Percy spat bitterly, avoiding other words that he could have filled in for jerk.

Annabeth patted his head as if her were a dog and Percy chuckled.

"He's not a poodle!" Leo shouted, a bit paranoid.

**"Don't worry," Annabeth told me. "Mortal police could never find us." But she didn't sound so sure.**

"You could and that's why it's important to know how to manipulate the Mist." Chiron said.

"Like Hazel." Frank nudged Hazel's shoulder and she blushed.

"It's not that big a deal."

**The rest of the day I spent alternately pacing the length of the train (because I had a really hard time sitting still) or looking out the windows.**

"I know how that feels." Piper relented, remembering back to all those days she spent cooped up on the Argo II.

"You think that you had it bad?" Nico exclaimed. "You weren't the ones stuck in a giant gold cylinder, forced to be the prisoner of a stupid two headed giant with snakes for an ass!"

"Nico, dude. You need to relax." Frank soothed him.

Conner laughed. "Frank sounds like a hippy."

"Give peace a chance, man." Frank said in the stereotypical hippie voice.

Leo fell over laughing.

Nico rolled his eyes, but smirked playfully. "I still had it worse."

"Nico!" Hazel, Annabeth, and Faith scolded together.

Nico quit feeling sorry for himself.

**Once, I spotted a family of centaurs galloping across a wheat field, bows at the ready, as they hunted lunch.**

"They don't sound like the party ponies." Ryan noted.

Chiron nodded. "Some of my brethren have chosen to stray from rambunctious behavior and live, how should I put this? More like the Native Americans that you have learned about in school."

"What? I never heard of those." Travis muttered a bit confused.

Katie gave Travis an incredulous look. "You never learned about the Native Americans?"

Travis laughed nervously while his scratched the back of his head. "Must have been home sick."

"Or playing hooky." Thalia pointed out.

"Or just not paying attention." Annabeth added.

"Or pulling a prank." Chris supplied.

"Okay! We get it!" Travis complained, feeling a little embarrassed.

Katie giggled and kissed Travis on the cheek which made his face pinken a little.

**The little boy centaur, who was the size of a second-grader on a pony, caught my eye and waved. I looked around the passenger car, but nobody else had noticed. The adult riders all had their faces buried in laptop computers or magazines.**

"That's a little ironic beings that teens are usually the ones with electronics now-a-days." Percy said.

"Very perceptive," Annabeth winked. She silently hoped that Hermes wouldn't play a joke on her and her cell phone that was in her pocket would go off. She already had a fancy hairdo thanks to Aphrodite. She didn't need more surprises.

**Another time, toward evening, I saw something huge moving through the woods. I could've sworn it was a lion, except that lions don't live wild in America, and this thing was the size of a Hummer. Its fur glinted gold in the evening light. Then it leaped through the trees and was gone.**

"The Nemean Lion!" Thalia shot forward. She tapped Annabeth on the shoulder repeatedly. "Hey. Hey. Hey."

Annabeth grabbed onto Thalia's hand to stop the tapping. "What, Thal?"

"Remember when we had to rescue you from Atlas?"'Thalia asked her.

Annabeth shivered, remembering the heavy weight of the sky. "Yeah."

"We had to face the Nemean Lion in Washington DC."

"How'd you kill it?" Jason asked. He remembered back when he was praetor of Camp Jupiter, the Nemean Lion showed up just a few hours before Hera had hijacked him and placed him in the Wilderness School.

"Yeah. That thing is not easy to defeat." Reyna agreed, listening intently. She had been the one who helped Jason send the monster to Tartarus. It had been very tough but the two of them worked as...a team. Reyna blushed and willed herself to stop remembering.

"Percy," Thalia gestured toward the son of Poseidon.

Percy looked up, a slightly confused look on his face, which Annabeth found adorable. His hair was mussed, his green eyes sparkled, and...he had a giant coffee stain on his CHB shirt. How attractive, Annabeth thought, hiding a laugh.

"Why don't you tell us how you Nemean Lion?" Thalia finished her sentence, eyes still locked on Percy.

Percy grinned. "Ice cream."

"What?" Conner asked, horrified.

"How do you kill something with something that tastes like a piece landed in your mouth?" Frank ranted. He knew he wasn't supposed to eat ice cream, but the stuff is just too good.

Nico nodded. "I got to agree with Frank on this one." Frank beamed. " How do you kill something with ice cream?"

"Unless it's butter pecan." Faith spat disgusted. "That stuff could kill me."

"I know what I'm getting you for your birthday." Jonathan teased.

"Please don't." She groaned back.

"Tell us, Percy!" Liam pleaded, excitement in his eyes. With his blonde hair combed the way it was, he looked just like Luke without the scar.

Percy shrugged playfully. "Guess you'll have to wait until book...?"

"Three." Thalia filled in. She had to stifle a laugh at annoyed looks Percy was getting.

"Great." Piper mumbled sarcastically.

**Our reward money for returning Gladiola the poodle had only been enough to purchase tickets as far as Denver. We couldn't get berths in the sleeper car, so we dozed in our seats. My neck got stiff. I tried not to drool in my sleep, since Annabeth was sitting right next to me.**

Everyone laughed at that.

"You did drool." Annabeth weezed as she laughed.

Percy rolled his eyes- he was the only one not laughing. "You snore."

More laughing. Leo's face was red and if he looked like one of Santa's elves on a regular basis, then he really resembled one now.

"Wait for it." Rachel joked. "Anytime Grover will moan _Food_ in his sleep."

"Cue more giggles." Christine snickered launched into a giggle fit.

**Grover kept snoring and bleating and waking me up. Once, he shuffled around and his fake foot fell off. Annabeth and I had to stick it back on before any of the other passengers noticed.**

**"So," Annabeth asked me, once we'd gotten Grover's sneaker readjusted. "Who wants your help?"**

**"What do you mean?"**

**"When you were asleep just now, you mumbled, 'I won't help you.' Who were you dreaming about?"**

"I told you that you talk in your sleep." Tyson whispered to Percy.

Percy chuckled. "I know you did big guy."

**I was reluctant to say anything. It was the second time I'd dreamed about the evil voice from the pit. But it bothered me so much I finally told her.**

**Annabeth was quiet for a long time. "That doesn't sound like Hades. He always appears on a black throne, and he never laughs."**

"He laughs!" Hazel defended.

"Yeah. When someone dies by by slipping on a banana peel." Reyna interjected.

Nico shrugged. "Yeah, but who wouldn't laugh at that?"

Everyone was silent for a moment, a little scared to counter Nico di Angelo.

"Okay. That was a little creepy. . . " Faith finally muttered.

Nico instantly wished take the comment back.

**"He offered my mother in trade. Who else could do that?"**

**"I guess … if he meant, 'Help me rise from the Underworld.' If he wants war with the Olympians. But why ask you to bring him the master bolt if he already has it?"**

"Because be doesn't really have it!" Rachel sang in a sing song tone.

**I shook my head, wishing I knew the answer. I thought about what Grover had told me, that the Furies on the bus seemed to have been looking for something.**

**Where is it? Where?**

"I'm gonna go out on a limb and say Helm of Darkness." Grover said.

"Spoiler!" Travis cried, pointing at the satyr.

**Maybe Grover sensed my emotions. He snorted in his sleep, muttered something about vegetables, and turned his head.**

**Annabeth readjusted his cap so it covered his horns. "Percy, you can't barter with Hades. You know that, right? He's deceitful, heartless, and greedy. I don't care if his Kindly Ones weren't as aggressive this time-"**

**"This time?" I asked. "You mean you've run into them before?"**

"Oh yes. Many times." Annabeth murmured.

"They were annoying. I think I they're my second to least favorite monster." Thalia scowled.

"Who's your least favorite?" Jason asked.

Thalia assumed a deadly expression. "Your face."

Thalia, along with everyone else (minus piper) laughed at Jason's blank expression.

Thalia shook her head as she ruffled Jason's hair. "I'm kidding. The manticore Dr Thorn."

"Pffft." Percy huffed. "I hate Kellie."

Annabeth nodded, remembering the cheerleader vampire she killed in Dadelous' workshop. She extremely hated them.

**Her hand crept up to her necklace. She fingered a glazed white bead painted with the image of a pine tree, one of her clay end-of-summer tokens. "Let's just say I've got no love for the Lord of the Dead. You can't be tempted to make a deal for your mom."**

**"What would you do if it was your dad?"**

**"That's easy," she said. "I'd leave him to rot."**

"And I thought I had daddy issues?" Travis thought out loud.

"The professor is in for a rude awakening." Ember agreed.

Annabeth shook her head. "Nah. We're cool now."

**"You're not serious?"**

**Annabeth's gray eyes fixed on me. She wore the same expression she'd worn in the woods at camp, the moment she drew her sword against the hellhound. "My dad's resented me since the day I was born, Percy," she said. "He never wanted a baby. When he got me, he asked Athena to take me back and raise me on Olympus because he was too busy with his work. She wasn't happy about that. She told him heroes had to be raised by their mortal parent."**

"That was harsh." Clarisse muttered. Sure her mom was a bitch, but she still took care of her until Coach Hedge got her to camp.

"You'd think Athena would blast him into an owl or something." Marc commented.

**"But how … I mean, I guess you weren't born in a hospital…."**

**"I appeared on my father's doorstep, in a golden cradle, carried down from Olympus by Zephyr the West Wind.**

"Hey! Beauty Queen," Leo called over to Piper.

Piper smiled weakly at him. "What?"

"Isn't Zephyr Khione's brother? The one who kept flirting with you?" Leo asked.

Jason's fist visibly clenched and he got a ferocious look in his eyes.

Piper looked sick then became annoyed. "I don't remember Leo. I've blocked it from my mind."

**You'd think my dad would remember that as a miracle, right? Like, maybe he'd take some digital photos or something. But he always talked about my arrival as if it were the most inconvenient thing that had ever happened to him. When I was five he got married and totally forgot about Athena. He got a 'regular' mortal wife, and had two 'regular' mortal kids, and tried to pretend I didn't exist."**

"Now I really wonder why he wasn't blasted into an owl." Marc murmured.

"Pfft. I'd take some pictures." Percy whispered, pulling Annabeth into the crook of his arm.

"I would've sold the golden cradle on Amazon and have become a freaking millionaire." Leo grinned.

"Only you, Leo." Jason laughed.

"Actually I might've done that..." Conner admitted.

Christine face palmed.

**I stared out the train window. The lights of a sleeping town were drifting by. I wanted to make Annabeth feel better, but I didn't know how.**

**"My mom married a really awful guy," I told her. "Grover said she did it to protect me, to hide me in the scent of a human family. Maybe that's what your dad was thinking."**

Grover shook his head. Something told him that at that time, that was not the case. He was a satyr. He knew these things.

**Annabeth kept worrying at her necklace. She was pinching the gold college ring that hung with the beads. It occurred to me that the ring must be her father's. I wondered why she wore it if she hated him so much.**

"I guess," Annabeth started. She could tell that the thought evoked the same question in more people, even if they avoided looking at her. "I guess I still wanted to tell myself that he might still love me, even a minuscule bit."

Percy kissed her on the head, slightly messing up her perfect hair. Surprisingly, it didn't magically fix itself like it had been before.

**"He doesn't care about me," she said. "His wife—my stepmom—treated me like a freak. She wouldn't let me play with her children. My dad went along with her. Whenever something dangerous happened—you know, something with monsters—they would both look at me resentfully, like, 'How dare you put our family at risk.' Finally, I took the hint. I wasn't wanted. I ran away."**

**"How old were you?"**

**"Same age as when I started camp. Seven."**

"She was really brave." Rachel whispered.

Ryan grinned. "She is a daughter of Athena."

**"But … you couldn't have gotten all the way to Half-Blood Hill by yourself."**

**"Not alone, no. Athena watched over me, guided me toward help. I made a couple of unexpected friends who took care of me, for a short time, anyway."**

"She's talking about me," Thalia smirked as she played with her chain bracelet.

"So arrogant," Leo cooed in a girly tone. He pretended to poof his hair and Thalia sent a shock wave through his body.

**I wanted to ask what happened, but Annabeth seemed lost in sad memories. So I listened to the sound of Grover snoring and gazed out the train windows as the dark fields of Ohio raced by. **

**Toward the end of our second day on the train, June 13, eight days before the summer solstice, we passed through some golden hills and over the Mississippi River into St. Louis. Annabeth craned her neck to see the Gateway Arch, which looked to me like a huge shopping bag handle stuck on the city.**

"That's what Drew told me it looked like to her!" Kiyah, one of Drew's clique from Aphrodite, sighed.

Percy gagged. "No! Drew thinks like me!?"

Jason shook his head and rested a hand on his friend's shoulder. "That's ruff bro."

"Goodness sakes," Hazel rolled her eyes.

**"I want to do that," she sighed.**

**"What?" I asked.**

**"Build something like that. You ever see the Parthenon, Percy?"**

**"Only in pictures."**

**"Someday, I'm going to see it in person. I'm going to build the greatest monument to the gods, ever. Something that'll last a thousand years."**

**I laughed. "You? An architect?"**

"I swear, if this chapter is just dialogue, I'm reading the next chapter too!" Leo exclaimed, sounding a little riled.

"It's called I Plunge to My Death." Reyna reminded her boyfriend.

"Percy, are you misleading me with this chapter title?"

"I don't think so. Echidna is in this one." Percy replied.

Most campers gasped, except for the select few who thought more like Leo. "I don't care about little hedgehogs!" The son of Hephaestus grumbled.

Percy, Grover, and Annabeth laughed.

**I don't know why, but I found it funny. Just the idea of Annabeth trying to sit quietly and draw all day.**

**Her cheeks flushed. "Yes, an architect. Athena expects her children to create things, not just tear them down, like a certain god of earthquakes I could mention."**

**I watched the churning brown water of the Mississippi below.**

**"Sorry," Annabeth said. "That was mean."**

Percy faked a sob. "Annabeth! You broke my heart!"

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "So dramatic."

"You guys had quite the love-hate relationship, huh?" Katie pointed out for the idiots who might not have noticed.

"Kind of like you and Travis?" Grover shot back at her with a wink.

Katie flushed. "What!?"

Travis snickered as he forced her to look at him and kissed her tenderly.

"Awww!" Piper cooed, her Aphrodite instincts getting the better of her again.

**"Can't we work together a little?" I pleaded. "I mean, didn't Athena and Poseidon ever cooperate?"**

**Annabeth had to think about it. "I guess … the chariot," she said tentatively. "My mom invented it, but Poseidon created horses out of the crests of waves. So they had to work together to make it complete."**

**"Then we can cooperate, too. Right?"**

"More then cooperate." Thalia smirked, shoving Annabeth farther into Percy's arms.

The two Heroes of Olympus blushed.

**We rode into the city, Annabeth watching as the Arch disappeared behind a hotel. ****"I suppose," she said at last.**

**We pulled into the Amtrak station downtown. The intercom told us we'd have a three-hour layover before departing for Denver.**

**Grover stretched. Before he was even fully awake, he said, "Food."**

"I called it!" Rachel reminded everyone as the arena burst into more laughter.

Tyson laughed with everyone else because it was fun, since he wasn't sure why he was laughing.

"Food." Grover moaned blushing, saying it for old time's sake.

Thalia, Annabeth, and Percy couldn't breath from laughing so hard.

"Why are we laughing?" Tyson finally asked. "Food?"

Of course, that only made everyone laugh _harder._

**"Come on, goat boy," Annabeth said. "Sightseeing."**

**"Sightseeing?"**

**"The Gateway Arch," she said. "This may be my only chance to ride to the top. Are you coming or not?"**

**Grover and I exchanged looks.**

**I wanted to say no, but I figured that if Annabeth was going, we couldn't very well let her go alone.**

"Very wise decision, Perseus." Chiron praised.

**Grover shrugged. "As long as there's a snack bar without monsters."**

"Unlike the dam snack bar." Grover joked.

Thalia and Percy appreciated the joke a bit more than others present.

**The Arch was about a mile from the train station. Late in the day the lines to get in weren't that long. We threaded our way through the underground museum, looking at covered wagons and other junk from the 1800s. It wasn't all that thrilling, but Annabeth kept telling us interesting facts about how the Arch was built, and Grover kept passing me jelly beans, so I was okay.**

"I'd have been looking for the fire alarm." Conner snickered.

"I'd be looking for the a pick ax." Clarisse threatened indirectly.

"I'd be looking for the exit if Clarisse had a sharp object..." Chris muttered.

**I kept looking around, though, at the other people in line. "You smell anything?" I murmured to Grover.**

**He took his nose out of the jelly-bean bag long enough to sniff.**

**"Underground," he said distastefully. "Underground air always smells like monsters. Probably doesn't mean anything."**

**But something felt wrong to me. I had a feeling we shouldn't be here.**

"Please. A hedgehog isn't dangerous," Leo huffed.

"Depends..." Reyna muttered.

**"Guys," I said. "You know the gods' symbols of power?"**

**Annabeth had been in the middle of reading about the construction equipment used to build the Arch, but she looked over. "Yeah?"**

**"Well, Hade-"**

**Grover cleared his throat. "We're in a public place…. You mean, our friend downstairs?"**

Nico grinned. "I didn't know that you and Hades were friends, Grover."

Grover gulped. "Y-y-yeah."

"Relax. I'm kidding."

Grover sighed with relief.

**"Um, right," I said. "Our friend way downstairs. Doesn't he have a hat like Annabeth's?"**

**"You mean the Helm of Darkness," Annabeth said. "Yeah, that's his symbol of power. I saw it next to his seat during the winter solstice council meeting."**

**"He was there?" I asked.**

**She nodded. "It's the only time he's allowed to visit Olympus-the darkest day of the year. But his helm is a lot more powerful than my invisibility hat, if what I've heard is true…."**

"**"It allows him to become darkness," Grover confirmed. "He can melt into shadow or pass through walls. He can't be touched, or seen, or heard. And he can radiate fear so intense it can drive you insane or stop your heart. Why do you think all rational creatures fear the dark?"**

**"But then … how do we know he's not here right now, watching us?" I asked.**

**Annabeth and Grover exchanged looks.**

**"We don't," Grover said.**

"Our father could be a creepy pedophile." Hazel whispered to Nico.

Nico shrugged. "He could be alot of things."

"Let's just say I'm not doing the Father-Daughter Dance anytime soon."

"As if you could dance."

"I can too."

"What are your moves? The Funky Hazel?"

"What's yours? Gang-Nico Style?"

"Shut up."

"Hazel, one. Nico, zero." Hazel laughed.

**"Thanks, that makes me feel a lot better," I said. "Got any blue jelly beans left?"**

**I'd almost mastered my jumpy nerves when I saw the tiny little elevator car we were going to ride to the top of the Arch, and I knew I was in trouble. I hate confined places. They make me nuts.**

**We got shoehorned into the car with this big fat lady and her dog, a Chihuahua with a rhinestone collar. I figured maybe the dog was a seeing-eye Chihuahua, because none of the guards said a word about it.**

"at least it isn't a poodle." Leo sighed.

Jason and Piper shared a look.

**We started going up, inside the Arch. I'd never been in an elevator that went in a curve, and my stomach wasn't too happy about it.**

**"No parents?" the fat lady asked us.**

**She had beady eyes; pointy, coffee-stained teeth; a floppy denim hat, and a denim dress that bulged so much, she looked like a blue-jean blimp.**

**"They're below," Annabeth told her. "Scared of heights."**

"You're lucky Percy and Grover were there." Thalia told Annabeth. "I never would have gone up there."

"Whys that?" Carmen asked, oblivious as ever to Thalia's fear of heights.

Thalia caught a breath. "Uh..."

"Because she hates—uh—Chihuahuas!" Percy filled in.

"Yeah!" Thalia shot Percy a thank you look.

Annabeth smiled, glad that Percy was witty enough to help keep Thalia's fear a secret.

**"Oh, the poor darlings."**

**The Chihuahua growled. The woman said, "Now, now, sonny. Behave." The dog had beady eyes like its owner, intelligent and vicious.**

**I said, "Sonny. Is that his name?"**

**"No," the lady told me.**

**She smiled, as if that cleared everything up.**

"Charming." Jonathan said sarcastically.

**At the top of the Arch, the observation deck reminded me of a tin can with carpeting. Rows of tiny windows looked out over the city on one side and the river on the other. The view was okay, but if there's anything I like less than a confined space, it's a confined space six hundred feet in the air. I was ready to go pretty quick.**

**Annabeth kept talking about structural supports, and how she would've made the windows bigger, and designed a see-through floor. She probably could've stayed up there for hours, but luckily for me the park ranger announced that the observation deck would be closing in a few minutes.**

"it would be cooler with see-through floors." Piper agreed. She had been to the arch with her dad a day or two before Percy, Grover, and Annabeth went. She remembered it because she felt relieved that she hadn't been there when the arch exploded and a weird kid jumped from the top. Only now did she know it was just Percy.

**I steered Grover and Annabeth toward the exit, loaded them into the elevator, and I was about to get in myself when I realized there were already two other tourists inside. No room for me.**

**The park ranger said, "Next car, sir."**

**"We'll get out," Annabeth said. "We'll wait with you."**

**But that was going to mess everybody up and take even more time, so I said, "Naw, it's okay. I'll see you guys at the bottom."**

"How would that mess everyone up?" Grover asked.

"I don't know." Percy answered, putting alot of thought into it.

**Grover and Annabeth both looked nervous, but they let the elevator door slide shut. Their car disappeared down the ramp.**

**Now the only people left on the observation deck were me, a little boy with his parents, the park ranger, and the fat lady with her Chihuahua.**

**I smiled uneasily at the fat lady. She smiled back, her forked tongue flickering between her teeth.**

"That is so unnatural." Thalia scowled.

"Nah. It's perfectly normal." Chris kidded.

"You scare me." Hazel told him.

"Sorry."

**Wait a minute.**

**Forked tongue?**

"Nice to see that you caught on, Seaweed Brain." Annabeth smiled.

"Hey, Grover told me that underground places smelt like monsters. He said don't worry about it." Percy defended himself.

Grover held up his palms. "Hey. You're the one who was making a point of feeling uncomfortable. You should have been more persistent."

**Before I could decide if I'd really seen that, her Chihuahua jumped down and started yapping at me.**

**"Now, now, sonny," the lady said. "Does this look like a good time? We have all these nice people here."**

**"Doggie!" said the little boy. "Look, a doggie!"**

**His parents pulled him back.**

**The Chihuahua bared his teeth at me, foam dripping from his black lips.**

**"Well, son," the fat lady sighed. "If you insist."**

**Ice started forming in my stomach. "Urn, did you just call that Chihuahua your son?"**

**"Chimera, dear," the fat lady corrected. "Not a Chihuahua. It's an easy mistake to make."**

**She rolled up her denim sleeves, revealing that the skin of her arms was scaly and green. When she smiled, I saw that her teeth were fangs. The pupils of her eyes were sideways slits, like a reptile's.**

"Wait a second," Leo pondered what he had read for minute. "I'm beginning to think that this lady is dangerous!"

"Leo!?" Piper was speechless at her friend's naivety.

"You think?" Clarisse called out to him, a bit annoyed.

**The Chihuahua barked louder, and with each bark, it grew. First to the size of a Doberman, then to a lion. The bark became a roar.**

**The little boy screamed. His parents pulled him back toward the exit, straight into the park ranger, who stood, paralyzed, gaping at the monster.**

"I wonder what they saw through the Mist." Rachel commented.

"I think the mom actually could see through the Mist." Annabeth admitted, remembering the dazed woman babbling about a fire breathing something or other.

**The Chimera was now so tall its back rubbed against the roof. It had the head of a lion with a blood-caked mane, the body and hooves of a giant goat, and a serpent for a tail, a ten-foot-long diamondback growing right out of its shaggy behind. The rhinestone dog collar still hung around its neck, and the plate-sized dog tag was now easy to read: CHIMERA-RABID, FIRE-BREATHING, POISONOUS-IF FOUND, PLEASE CALL TARTARUS-EXT. 954.**

"What do you think would happen if you prank called Tartarus?" Conner asked stupidly.

Travis snickered. "That'd be awesome!"

"A horrible way to die," Chiron corrected.

"A one way ticket to Hades." Percy promised.

"Boys are such idiots." Phoebe huffed to Carmen.

Carmen nodded. "Prank call Tartarus? Only a boy would want to do that."

**I realized I hadn't even uncapped my sword. My hands were numb. I was ten feet away from the Chimera's bloody maw, and I knew that as soon as I moved, the creature would lunge.**

**The snake lady made a hissing noise that might've been laughter. "Be honored, Percy Jackson. Lord Zeus rarely allows me to test a hero with one of my brood. For I am the Mother of Monsters, the terrible Echidna!"**

"Zeus sent her?" Thalia exclaimed, looking angry.

Jason crossed his arms with a similar expression.

"Who cares? She is the mom of anteaters." Leo grinned.

**I stared at her. All I could think to say was: "Isn't that a kind of anteater?"**

Everyone laughed.

**She howled, her reptilian face turning brown and green with rage. "I hate it when people say that! I hate Australia! Naming that ridiculous animal after me. For that, Percy Jackson, my son shall destroy you!"**

"Australia is a great place, mate." An Australian Hephaestus boy seethed.

**The Chimera charged, its lion teeth gnashing. I managed to leap aside and dodge the bite.**

**I ended up next to the family and the park ranger, who were all screaming now, trying to pry open the emergency exit doors.**

**I couldn't let them get hurt. I uncapped my sword, ran to the other side of the deck, and yelled, "Hey, Chihuahua!" The Chimera turned faster than I would've thought possible.**

"How do you even spell Chihuahua?" Faith wondered.

"C-h-I-w-o-w-a. Chihuahua." Jason spelled, forgetting he had dyslexia.

"No. C-h-o-w-o-w-a." Annabeth smirked.

"Nuh uh! C-h-e-w-o-h-a." Percy said.

"Guys. Come on. It's c-h-I-w-o-w-h-a." Nico crossed his arms, pride swelling in his chest.

Hazel rolled her eyes. "Nico you're so wrong."

Nico stuck his tongue out at Hazel.

"Um. It's spelled c-h-I-h-u-a-h-u-a." Frank corrected everyone.

Piper rubbed her temples. "Leo, how do you spell Chihuahua?"

Leo squinted at the paper. "C-h-i-h-u-a-h-u-a."

Percy turned toward Frank, feeling a newfound respect for the son of Mars. "Nice, dude. How'd you know that?"

Frank shrugged. "I'm not dyslexic remember? Lactose intolerant."

"Oh yeaaaaah." Jonathan nodded, picking up on Leo's fake beard stroking.

**Before I could swing my sword, it opened its mouth, emitting a stench like the world's largest barbecue pit, and shot a column of flame straight at me.**

**I dove through the explosion. The carpet burst into flames; the heat was so intense, it nearly seared off my eyebrows.**

"That would be hilarious," Pollux admitted.

"I'm glad you think so." Percy joked.

**Where I had been standing a moment before was a ragged hole in the side of the Arch, with melted metal steaming around the edges.**

**Great, I thought. We just blowtorched a national monument.**

**Riptide was now a shining bronze blade in my hands, and as the Chimera turned, I slashed at its neck.**

**That was my fatal mistake. The blade sparked harmlessly off the dog collar. I tried to regain my balance, but I was so worried about defending myself against the fiery lion's mouth, I completely forgot about the serpent tail until it whipped around and sank its fangs into my calf.**

Ryan winced. "Oh crap. That had to hurt."

"No duh, Rye." Jonathan teased.

"Oy," Faith muttered.

**My whole leg was on fire. I tried to jab Riptide into the Chimera's mouth, but the serpent tail wrapped around my ankles and pulled me off balance, and my blade flew out of my hand, spinning out of the hole in the Arch and down toward the Mississippi River.**

"And this is all Dad's fault." Thalia grumbled to Jason.

"Yeah. Sending Echidna and Chimera after Percy." Jason mumbled back.

Overhead, thunder rumbled and there was flash .

"Whatever." Thalia brushed off the threat from her dad.

**I managed to get to my feet, but I knew I had lost. I was weaponless. I could feel deadly poison racing up to my chest. I remembered Chiron saying that Anaklusmos would always return to me, but there was no pen in my pocket. Maybe it had fallen too far away. Maybe it only returned when it was in pen form. I didn't know, and I wasn't going to live long enough to figure it out.**

"What if when Percy lost Riptide in sword form, it would appear in his pocket as a sword?" Travis asked, letting the idea float around.

Katie smacked her forehead.

Percy refrained from patting his back pocket. "That would really suck, Travis."

**I backed into the hole in the wall. The Chimera advanced, growling, smoke curling from its lips. The snake lady, Echidna, cackled. "They don't make heroes like they used to, eh, son?"**

**The monster growled. It seemed in no hurry to finish me off now that I was beaten.**

**I glanced at the park ranger and the family. The little boy was hiding behind his father's legs. I had to protect these people. I couldn't just … die. I tried to think, but my whole body was on fire. My head felt dizzy. I had no sword. I was facing a massive, fire-breathing monster and its mother. And I was scared.**

Tyson patted his brother's shoulder comfortingly while Annabeth took hold of his hand in hers and rested their entwined hands in her lap.

**There was no place else to go, so I stepped to the edge of the hole. Far, far below, the river glittered.**

**If I died, would the monsters go away? Would they leave the humans alone?**

**"If you are the son of Poseidon," Echidna hissed, "you would not fear water. Jump, Percy Jackson. Show me that water will not harm you. Jump and retrieve your sword. Prove your bloodline."**

**Yeah, right, I thought. I'd read somewhere that jumping into water from a couple of stories up was like jumping onto solid asphalt. From here, I'd splatter on impact.**

"Normal person, sure." Marc nodded.

"Like Rachel." Nico grinned.

Rachel gasped then smacked Nico upside the head. "Only Percy and Tyson could survive that. You'd splatter too di Angelo."

Reyna laughed.

**The Chimera's mouth glowed red, heating up for another blast.**

**"You have no faith,"**

"Right here, you dope." Faith yelled at Echidna in the book.

"No wonder people question why I'm dating you." Ryan teased. He grinned sheepishly at the glower Faith gave him. "I'm sorry. I love you."

"You better." She kissed him on the cheek.

** Echidna told me. "You do not trust the gods. I cannot blame you, little coward. Better you die now. The gods are faithless. The poison is in your heart."**

**She was right: I was dying. I could feel my breath slowing down. Nobody could save me, not even the gods.**

**I backed up and looked down at the water. I remembered the warm glow of my father's smile when I was a baby. He must have seen me. He must have visited me when I was in my cradle.**

"Wishful thinking, Percy."Annabeth whispered to him, although Athena had once told her how Zeus had yelled at Poseidon for a solid 2 hours for visiting a demigod around 2 years old. She figured it was Percy who Poseidon was visiting.

**I remembered the swirling green trident that had appeared above my head the night of capture the flag, when Poseidon had claimed me as his son.**

Tyson beamed as he remembered his own claiming.

**But this wasn't the sea. This was the Mississippi, dead center of the USA. There was no Sea God here.**

**"Die, faithless one," Echidna rasped, and the Chimera sent a column of flame toward my face.**

**"Father, help me," I prayed.**

**I turned and jumped. My clothes on fire, poison coursing through my veins, I plummeted toward the river.**

"Ok, it's done. At least there weren't any pink poodles." Leo concluded as he closed the book.

"Ooo. Cliff hanger. I like it." Piper smiled.

"Roman," Leo called to Reyna, "get your butt up here and read."

* * *

**Merry Christmas everyone! I hope everyone had a great day! I got PJO Sea of Monsters! That's right. (Be jealous. Jk)**

**I was gonna update earlier, but FF wasn't working. Oh well, I'm updating at 1:00am.**

**Look out for my Christmas PJO oneshot. It's probably going to be about Bianca and Nico**


	17. Frank Becomes Pikachu

**Chapter 14: Frank Becomes Pikachu**

Reyna crossed her arms, pursing her lips."Are you serious?" She brushed a loose strand of hair that had escaped from her rather tight braid. She was wearing a bright blue t-shirt and white shorts.

Leo shrugged. "What's the problem, Reyna?"

Reyna narrowed her eyes at him. "What if i don't want to read?"

"What if you do?" Leo countered, a lopsided grin on his face.

"Why are we all asking questions?" Frank asked randomely. Hazel nudged him with her shoulder.

"Come on, Reyna!" Piper encouraged her. "It's really not that bad."

"Yeah." Jason agreed.

"Once you get over the huge crowd of people..." Hazel muttered.

Annabeth patted Reyna on the back. "Come on, Reyna!"

Reyna tried to hide the color rising to her cheeks. She chewed on the inside of her cheeks. "Well, i guess i could..."

"Awesome. Now get on with it." Travis shouted.

"Travis!" Katie scolded. Instead of slapping him, she just turned her attention away from him. She hid a smirk when she could sense the panic that Travis was radiating.

Reyna shot him an unamused look, as she got to her feet. Joining Leo at the blue bean-bag chair, she took the book from him. She had expected Leo to take off back to the bleachers, so she was pleasently surprised when he wrapped an arm around her shoulder, allowing her to snuggle into the crook of his arm. Pretending that it was just her and Leo reading together, she began reading the next chapter.

**Chapter 14: I Become a Known Fugitive**

**I'd love to tell you I had some deep revelation on my way down, that I came to terms with my own mortality, laughed in the face of death, et cetera.**

"He screamed. I could hear him from San Fransico." Jason teased.

"Ha ha ha." Percy said sarcastically. "You kill me Jason."

"Hey! Comedy is my thing!" Leo shouted at them.

**The truth? My only thought was: Aaaagggh!**

"Now that would make more sense." Frank asserted.

"And at least he can admit it." Piper agreed.

"Wouldn't he be just admitting it to himself?" Annabeth pointed out.

"Well obviously, Annabeth." Percy said, resting his head against hers.

"Your head is really heavy." Annabeth whispered back to him.

Percy chuckled, but didn't change his position. Annabeth sighed.

**The river raced toward me at the speed of a truck. Wind ripped the breath from my lungs. Steeples and skyscrapers and bridges tumbled in and out of my vision.**

**And then: Flaaa-boooom!**

"Fla-boom?" Conner asked eagerly. "He exploded?"

"No that's ka-boom." Reyna joked.

"True." Ryan said and everyone laughed.

**A whiteout of bubbles. I sank through the murk, sure that I was about to end up embedded in a hundred feet of mud and lost forever.**

"Thats how we lost my friend Joey in the Muskegon." Jonathan said solemnly.

A majority of the campers jerked their heads toward Jonathan. "You're friend sank in river mud?" Rachel exclaimed, horror flashing across her bright green eyes.

Faith smacked Jonathan on the back of the head. "Dude, we didn't lose Joey in the mud!"

Ryan scratched the back of his neck. "Uhh, actually we did lose him in the mud."

Faith rubbed her eyes exasperated. "Okay. Joey didn't die in the mud. We got him out."

"Took awhile. That mud was deep." Ryan said.

Jonathan snorted. "Like quicksand. Joey was lucky that we were there to pull him out."

"You guys knew each other out of camp?" Nico wondered, feeling mildly hurt. He didn't realize that Faith, Ryan, and Jonathan had know each other since before they got to camp.

Ryan bobbed his head. "The three of us were friends back in Michigan. We all came to camp together with the same satyr protector similar to what happened with Annabeth, Thalia, Luke, and Grover."

"Minus the pine tree." Thalia muttered to Annabeth.

"Joey's obviously not a demigod." Jonathan added.

"Since we're summer campers, we still see him during the school year." Faith fussed with her hair, trying to keep her long, brown locks in the bun on her head.

"Oh," Nico mumbled, a little bit down.

**But my impact with the water hadn't hurt. I was falling slowly now, bubbles trickling up through my fingers. I settled on the river bottom soundlessly. A catfish the size of my stepfather ****lurched away into the gloom. Clouds of silt and disgusting garbage—beer bottles, old shoes, plastic bags—swirled up all around me.**

**At that point, I realized a few things: first, I had not been flattened into a pancake. I had not been barbecued. I couldn't even feel the Chimera poison boiling in my veins anymore. I was alive, which was good.**

"Being alive is always good." Hazel agreed.

"Sure beats being dead." Phoebe nodded.

**Second realization: I wasn't wet. I mean, I could feel the coolness of the water. I could see where the fire on my clothes had been quenched. But when I touched my own shirt, it felt perfectly dry.**

"Of course he doesn't realize that he's breathing underwater." Grover said.

"Im getting to that part!" Percy insisted.

Tyson laughed. "I like taking walks underwater sometimes."

"Yeah! Did you guys know the naiads have a park in the middle of Long Island Sound?" Annabeth interrupted suddenly.

"They what?" Thalia asked.

"Did Percy take you there?" Piper asked, poking the daughter of Athena gently in the ribs. Annabeth and Percy blushed. Piper grinned. "Awwwwe. You two are too cute."

**I looked at the garbage floating by and snatched an old cigarette lighter.**

**No way, I thought.**

**I flicked the lighter. It sparked. A tiny flame appeared, right there at the bottom of the Mississippi.**

"That would be pretty sweet." Tizzy giggled, clutching onto Liam's arm as if it were her lifeline.

Liam patted her head, curly hair soft against his hand. "Tiz, can't feel my arm."

Tizzy softened her grip. "Sorry."

**I grabbed a soggy hamburger wrapper out of the current and immediately the paper turned dry. I lit it with no problem. As soon as I let it go, the flames sputtered out. The wrapper turned back into a slimy rag. Weird.**

**But the strangest thought occurred to me only last: I was breathing. I was underwater, and I was breathing normally.**

"I feel like that you'd be breathing in dirt from that mucky water." Katie muttered. She was still ignoring Travis' attempts at winning over her attention. She hid a grin, feeling satisfied with how she was annoying Travis for once.

"Surprisingly, it filtered pretty good for me."

**I stood up, thigh-deep in mud. My legs felt shaky. My hands trembled. I should've been dead. The fact that I wasn't seemed like … well, a miracle. I imagined a woman's voice, a voice that sounded a bit like my mother: Percy, what do you say?**

**"Um … thanks." Underwater, I sounded like I did on recordings, like a much older kid. "Thank you … Father."**

"There you have it. Percy has officially gone bananas." Ember joked.

Tyson shot up. "Bananas? Did you know that bananas are the key ingredient for banana splits?"

Leo made a move to make a comment, but Hazel cut him off before he could have potentially hurt the Cyclops' feelings. "Tyson! You're so smart! I never would have known that!"

Hazel wasn't a prone liar- in fact she hated it. But her friendly behavior wouldnt let her allow anyone to crush Tyson's dreams and or feelings. Tyson was actually one of her best friends at camp. It helped that alot of times they dont understand the jokes that the others tend to tell.

Percy smiled at his brother. "Good job, big guy."

Tyson scratched his forehead. Good job? What did he do?

**No response. Just the dark drift of garbage downriver, the enormous catfish gliding by, the flash of sunset on the water's surface far above, turning everything the color of butterscotch.**

**Why had Poseidon saved me?**

"Funny how parents act sometimes, huh?" Lacy thought back to when she was claimed by Aphrodite. She had spent almost 12 weeks at camp before her mom showed any interest in her. Sometimes, Lacy wondered if the only reason why Aphrodite had finally claimed her was because she won the anual beauty competition that the naiads and nymphs always held.

"Tell me about it." Riva sniffed into the sleeve of her jacket. Once again, her parent Apollo didnt show any delight in her until she won an archery contest against the Ares cabin almost 6 weeks after getting to camp.

"What do you mean?" Ryan asked his girlfriend's rival.

Riva huffed without answering. Of course he wouldn't understand. He was claimed the same night he got to camp. Same with Jonathan. And Faith. And Piper. And Leo. And Jason. And Tizzy. And Liam. And Marc. And Travis and Conner. Clarisse was a bit obvious, though she was still claimed. Even Tyson was. Percy and Annabeth were claimed days within their arrival. None of them understood how she, Lacy, Ember, Sunny and several others did. Abandonement.

Clarisse sniffed up her nose, recognizing Riva's hateful look. "Quit being a bunch of babies."

"Yes Clarisse." Lacy apologized in a squeak.

Clarisse softened her gaze at Lacy. She had a warmer feeling toward Lacy because she had been so close with Silena. "Stop trembling Lacy. I wont hurt you."

"O-okay." The blonde Aphrodite girl hadn't noticed that she had been shaking.

**The more I thought about it, the more ashamed I felt. So I'd gotten lucky a few times before. Against a thing like the Chimera, I had never stood a chance. Those poor people in the Arch were probably toast. I couldn't protect them. I was no hero. Maybe I should just stay down here with the catfish, join the bottom feeders.**

**Fump-fump-fump. A riverboat's paddlewheel churned above me, swirling the silt around.**

**There, not five feet in front of me, was my sword, its gleaming bronze hilt sticking up in the mud.**

"Well thats convenient." Annabeth smirked, crossing her arms.

"Its a little surprising that it didnt return to his pocket." Thalia pointed out.

"Probably because he was so close." Carmen suggested nonchalantly.

"I wouldn't know. " Percy shrugged.

**I heard that woman's voice again: Percy, take the sword. Your father believes in time, I knew the voice wasn't in my head. I wasn't imagining it. Her words seemed to come from everywhere, rippling through the water like dolphin sonar.**

"I knew he would relate it to the water." Chris said.

"Rachel uses art analogies." Nico reminded him.

Rachel put a hand on her hip. "Whats wrong with art analogies?" She demanded.

"Nothing." Nico replied, concealing a smirk.

"Not like your shirt has paint stains on it and your pants has a pikachu doodle on it." Percy said.

"Hey," Rachel responded calmly even though she could tell her cheeks were pink. "Pikachu is really cute."

"Pikachu is a really cute pokemon." Annabeth agreed with a sigh.

Piper twisted so she could see Annabeth. "How far are you in the game?"

Annabeth scowled. "Nearly half way. You?"

Piper grinned. "Just reached the half way mark"

Annabeth scowled again.

"Translation. Please?" Jason said.

"Piper told Annabeth about pokemon for ds and now they're competing to see who can become a pokemon trainer first." Reyna explained, recalling what had happened.

Jason and Percy shared a look like, 'pokemon? Are they serious?'

Leo caught thier looks. "Dont degrade pokemon! Charmander and Chimchar are freaking fabulous. "

Katie smiled. "Of course Leo would specialize with fire types."

"You watch pokemon too?" Liam questioned.

Frank shook his head. "Liam, every kid used to have an obsession with pokemon. " Unless you're like Annabeth and Piper who are obsessed with it now, he thought.

"I loved the fire types too! Charmander was my all time favorite. " Faith gushed.

"Well duh, obviously I was team Misty with her water pokemon. " Percy stopped for a second then added, "I liked Dawn too. Her little Piplup was really awesome."

"I think the electric types are the most powerful. Pikachu will always be my favorite. " Thalia recalled the days when she used to watch pokemon with Jason swaddled in a blanket sitting in her lao.

" Same goes for me." Jason agreed. "Although richu, the evolved form of pikachu was cooler."

"Grass types are so cute! Chikorita was my personal favorite. " Katie cooed.

"Katie and her grass." Travis teased. He frowned when he saw how Katie ignored him even more after that.

Clarisse grinned. "Rock pokemon are the strongest."

"Snivy or pansage." Ryan finally decided. He started watching pokemon with Annabeth when Piper got her addicted a few weeks ago...

"Meoweth because he can pull pranks and talk." Conner said.

"Yeah bro!" Travis and Marc coincided.

"I love all the types but Ambipom is my favorite. " Piper said.

"Ive personally have always found Clefairy to be the best pokemon. " Frank said.

"Dawn's pokemon are my favorite. Especially the cute bunny one." Rachel crooned.

Annabeth pursed her lips."Truthfully, I love all the types also. But even when I was little, Squirtle has always been my pokemon of choice. I forgot how fun it was to play pokemon!"

"Hey Frank, do you think that you could morph into a pokemon?" Percy asked.

Frank shrugged. "Guess I could try." His body folded until he was a cute little pikachu.

Every pokemon fan exclaimed in surprised delight. Frank hopped into Hazel's lap. She shared a confused look with Nico. "What's pokemon?"

Nico shrugged, equally confused. "Your guess is better than mine."

**"Where are you?" I called aloud.**

**Then, through the gloom, I saw her-a woman the color of the water, a ghost in the current, floating just above the sword. She had long billowing hair, and her eyes, barely visible, were green like mine.**

**A lump formed in my throat. I said, "Mom?"**

"Wishful thinking. " Travis murmured, gazing at Katie.

Conner patted his brother on the back consolingly.

**No, child, only a messenger, though your mother's fate is not as hopeless as you believe. Go to the beach in Santa Monica.**

**"What?"**

**It is your father's will. Before you descend into the Underworld, you must go to Santa Monica. Please, Percy, I cannot stay long. The river here is too foul for my presence.**

**"But …" I was sure this woman was my mother, or a vision of her, anyway. "Who-how did you-"**

**There was so much I wanted to ask, the words jammed up in my throat.**

**I cannot stay, brave one, the woman said. She reached out, and I felt the current brush my face like a caress. You must go to Santa Monica! And, Percy, do not trust the gifts….**

**Her voice faded.**

**"Gifts?" I asked. "What gifts? Wait!"**

**She made one more attempt to speak, but the sound was gone. Her image melted away. If it was my mother, I had lost her again.**

"Fortunately she wasn't your mom." Nico said.

"Nope. More like my aunt. Of sorts." Percy replied.

Annabeth grinned. A Nereid being Percy's aunt was a bit funny.

**I felt like drowning myself. The only problem: I was immune to drowning.**

**"**I feel your pain. You don't know how many times ive tried burning myself alive." Leo teased.

"Apparently not enough pain, considering you're immune to fire." Jason joked.

Thalia ruffled Jason's hair.

**Your father believes in you, she had said.**

**She'd also called me brave … unless she was talking to the catfish.**

"Im 98.7% positive that she was talking about the catfish." Grover smirked.

"Of course a catfish is braver than Percy Jackson." Chris said.

Tyson made a face. "Catfish are mean fish."

**I waded toward Riptide and grabbed it by the hilt. The Chimera might still be up there with its snaky, fat mother, waiting to finish me off. At the very least, the mortal police would be arriving, trying to figure out who had blown a hole in the Arch. If they found me, they'd have some questions.**

"No duh. You're a genius." Phoebe commented.

**I capped my sword, stuck the ballpoint pen in my pocket. "Thank you, Father," I said again to the dark water.**

**Then I kicked up through the muck and swam for the surface.**

**I came ashore next to a floating McDonald's.**

"ahgdnxwk..." Piper groaned. She felt her stomach flip violently from the mere name McDonald's. The food was processed meat- yuck.

**A block away, every emergency vehicle in St. Louis was surrounding the Arch. Police helicopters circled overhead. The crowd of onlookers reminded me of Times Square on New Year's Eve.**

**A little girl said, "Mama! That boy walked out of the river."**

**"That's nice, dear," her mother said, craning her neck to watch the ambulances.**

**"But he's dry!"**

**"That's nice, dear."**

"That kid is gonna have mental problems for the rest of her life now." Sunny murmured.

**A news lady was talking for the camera: "Probably not a terrorist attack,**

"Just your average Chimera attack." Annabeth filled in a bit sourly.

**we're told, but it's still very early in the investigation. The damage, as you can see, is very serious. We're trying to get to some of the survivors, to question them about eyewitness reports of someone falling from the Arch."**

**Survivors. I felt a surge of relief. Maybe the park ranger and that family made it out safely. I hoped Annabeth and Grover were okay.**

"THaNks bro." Grover bleated

Percy smiled. "No way id leave you behind, G-man."

" Ahem?" Annabeth cleared her throat.

Percy grinned sheepishly. "And I would never leave Annabeth. "

Annabeth smiled proudly with herself.

"She's the brains of the situation. " He got a kiss on her cheek before she could scold him.

**I tried to push through the crowd to see what was going on inside the police line.**

**"… an adolescent boy," another reporter was saying. "Channel Five has learned that surveillance cameras show an adolescent boy going wild on the observation deck, somehow setting off this freak explosion. Hard to believe, John, but that's what we're hearing. Again, no confirmed fatalities …"**

"And sometimes Hecate wants to screw up my life." Percy said to himself, refering to how it was the Mist's fault that all the mortals thought he had deliberately set off a bomb.

**I backed away, trying to keep my head down. I had to go a long way around the police perimeter. Uniformed officers and news reporters were everywhere.**

**I'd almost lost hope of ever finding Annabeth and Grover when a familiar voice bleated, "Perrr-cy!"**

**I turned and got tackled by Grover's bear hug-or goat hug. He said, "We thought you'd gone to Hades the hard way!"**

Nico shrugged it off, trying to keep his eyes off of the Apollo girl who had snagged his was still fussing with her perfectly messed up hair. Nico sighed.

Hazel contentedly scratched Pikachu Frank on the stomach, even if she didnt know what a pikachu was.

**Annabeth stood behind him, trying to look angry, but even she seemed relieved to see me. "We can't leave you alone for five minutes! What happened?"**

"Annabeth relieved to see Percy? Why does that not surprise me?" Thalia blocked a soft punch from Annabeth.

**"I sort of fell."**

**"Percy! Six hundred and thirty feet?"**

"Oh shit..." Jonathan mumbled.

"Damn snack bar..." Jason agreed.

**Behind us, a cop shouted, "Gangway!" The crowd parted, and a couple of paramedics hustled out, rolling a woman on a stretcher. I recognized her immediately as the mother of the little boy who'd been on the observation deck. She was saying, "And then this huge dog, this huge fire-breathing Chihuahua-"**

**"Okay, ma'am," the paramedic said. "Just calm down. Your family is fine. The medication is starting to kick in."**

**"I'm not crazy! This boy jumped out of the hole and the monster disappeared." Then she saw me. "There he is! That's the boy!"**

"Thats one way to get accepted to the Insane Asylum. " Conner commented.

"Afraid so." Chiron nodded his head sadly. His response was so endearing, Conner felt a bit nervous that some mortals who could see through the Mist ended up in Mental Institutions ftom telling people about the mystical things that they see.

**I turned quickly and pulled Annabeth and Grover after me. We disappeared into the crowd.**

**"What's going on?" Annabeth demanded. "Was she talking about the Chihuahua on the elevator?"**

**I told them the whole story of the Chimera, Echidna, my high-dive act, and the underwater lady's message.**

**"Whoa," said Grover. "We've got to get you to Santa Monica! You can't ignore a summons from your dad."**

**Before Annabeth could respond, we passed another reporter doing a news break, and I almost froze in my tracks when he said, "Percy Jackson. That's right, Dan. Channel Twelve has learned that the boy who may have caused this explosion fits the description of a young man wanted by authorities for a serious New Jersey bus accident three days ago. And the boy is believed to be traveling west. For our viewers at home, here is a photo of Percy Jackson."**

**We ducked around the news van and slipped into an alley.**

"That wasn't easy neither. There were alot of news vans." Annabeth said.

"Took almost forty minutes. " Grover confirmed.

**"First things first," I told Grover. "We've got to get out of town!"**

**Somehow, we made it back to the Amtrak station without getting spotted. We got on board the train just before it pulled out for Denver. The train trundled west as darkness fell, police lights still pulsing against the St. Louis skyline behind us.**

Reyna closed the book. Chiron motioned for Leo and Reyna to return to their seats. Chiron took up the book in his hands. "Perhaps two more chapters and then we can proceed to the mess hall for lunch. As im aware, Leo has only had a cereal bar all morning. "

Leo groaned, shaking a fist. "Yeah. Not even the good kind either! What the fudge Demeter!?"

* * *

**Hey am i writing anyone OOC?**

**cuz i feel that i did Leo, Nico, Jason, and Reyna a bit off. Anyone else? Plz review and tell me if im doing good so far with the personalities or if im sucking.**

**~PinkFan-Gurl **


	18. Faith Splits

**My boyfriend dumped me. At first I was sad, then I just got pissed off. **

**Thats all I have to say as for the explanation of this chapter. **

* * *

**Chapter 15: Faith Splits**

Chiron flipped ahead in the next chapter, Iintrigued by the chapter titlr. Once he skimmed over the part that had gone over the Thrill Ride O' Love, he couldnt resist having Annabeth read the chapter. "Annabeth, would you care to do the honors?"

Annabeth casted a suspious glance at Chiron. She could tell that he was up to something. Frantically, she tried to remember what had happened after the Arch but her mind was drawing a blank. What else could she do? Annabeth staggered to her feet and made her way to Chiron. She accepted the book from him, flipping to the page. She could swear that she heard him chuckling under his breath as he cantered away.

Annabeth read the title to herself before she read it outloud. Upon reading the title, she immediatly remembered what was going to be in this chapter. Her cheeks heated up and her stomach fluttered.

Judging from the way Annabeth was clutching the book and her face was pink, Percy had a feeling that this chapter was going to involve an angry war god, an abandoned water park, a trap, and robot spiders. Percy rubbed his face, warming up himself.

_Thanks alot, Chiron_, Annabeth thought. Taking a confident breath, she began reading the next chapter.

**Chapter 15: A God Buys Us Cheesburgers**

"I wonder which one it was." Nico said. He hadn't heard the story about Ares and his little preposition he had offered to Percy, Annabeth, and Grover.

"Just wait," Grover told him. He was hiding some laughs because both Percy and Annabeth were preparing themselves for major embaressment. Grover thought that they should be a bit worried about how the Ares cabin would react to the insults they had said about him.

**The next afternoon, June 14, seven days before the solstice, our train rolled into Denver. We hadn't eaten since the night before in the dining car, somewhere in Kansas. We hadn't taken a shower since Half-Blood Hill, and I was sure that was obvious.**

"That is so disgusting." Marshall scrunched his eyes, trying to imagine something that horrible.

"Thats that life of a demigod on a quest," Piper told him. "Try going without a shower for four days in the winter." She was refering back to when she was traveling with Leo and Jason back on their first quest.

Leo shurgged. "I dont mind."

"Not taking showers?" Rachel clarified.

Leo nodded with a slight smirk.

"Leo, you're so gross." Reyna spat at him.

**"Let's try to contact Chiron," Annabeth said. "I want to tell him about your talk with the river spirit."**

**"We can't use phones, right?"**

**"I'm not talking about phones."**

**We wandered through downtown for about half an hour, though I wasn't sure what Annabeth was looking for. The air was dry and hot, which felt weird after the humidity of St. Louis. Everywhere we turned, the Rocky Mountains seemed to be staring at me, like a tidal wave about to crash into the city.**

"Another water anaology," Thalia pointed out.

"At least it wasn't another art analogy." Conner teased.

Rachel smacked him upside the head. "Why is everyone picking on me and art today?"

"Relax, Rach. Everyone knows how good you are at art." Katie reassured her.

Rachel smiled. "Thanks Katie."

**Finally we found an empty do-it-yourself car wash. **

"Why didn't you guys shower at the car wash? Like spray each other with the hoses?" Hazel offered, still cuddling Pika-Frank.

Annabeth laughed. "I don't think we were to worried about it at the moment."

"I was thinking more about food." Percy agreed.

Grover nodded. "The dining car back in Kansas had mainly bags of beef jerky and Doritos."

**We veered toward the stall farthest from the street, keeping our eyes open for patrol cars. We were three adolescents hanging out at a car wash without a car; any cop worth his doughnuts would figure we were up to no good.**

**"What exactly are we doing?" I asked, as Grover took out the spray gun.**

**"It's seventy-five cents," he grumbled. "I've only got two quarters left. Annabeth?"**

**"Don't look at me," she said. "The dining car wiped me out."**

**I fished out my last bit of change and passed Grover a quarter, which left me two nickels and one drachma from Medusa's place.**

**"Excellent," Grover said. "We could do it with a spray bottle, of course, but the connection isn't as good, and my arm gets tired of pumping."**

**"What are you talking about?"**

"I love how you guys totally left Percy in the dark." Christine giggled softly.

"Yeah. Kelp Head must have thought you guys had finally cracked." Thalia joked.

"Very funny, Thalia." Annabeth snapped back.

Thalia smirked, not taking Annabeth's comment personally.

**He fed in the quarters and set the knob to FINE MIST. "I-M'ing."**

**"Instant messaging?"**

**"Iris-messaging," Annabeth corrected. "The rainbow goddess Iris carries messages for the gods. If you know how to ask, and she's not too busy, she'll do the same for half-bloods."**

"Then she has an awful lot of 'spare time.'" Percy used a pair of air quotes.

Hazel hugged tightly onto Pika-Frank. He was just to cute! Whatever Pokemon is, she really needed to find out soon. "More than spare time, Percy. She owns an entire store."

"Mom owns a store?" Christine asked her siblings out loud.

"How would we know!?" Daniel, one of her half brothers, asked her with crossed arms.

Christine shrugged. "I was just asking. Geez."

"She has some nasty health food." Percy gagged.

"Worse than Demeter's whole grain?" Jason asked.

Percy nodded shamefully. "Yes."

"Bro, thats cold." Leo mourned sadly.

**"You summon the goddess with a spray gun?"**

**Grover pointed the nozzle in the air and water hissed out in a thick white mist. "Unless you know an easier way to make a rainbow."**

**Sure enough, late afternoon light filtered through the vapor and broke into colors.**

**Annabeth held her palm out to me. "Drachma, please."**

**I handed it over.**

**She raised the coin over her head. "O goddess, accept our offering."**

**She threw the drachma into the rainbow. It disappeared in a golden shimmer.**

**"Half-Blood Hill," Annabeth requested.**

**For a moment, nothing happened.**

**Then I was looking through the mist at strawberry fields, and the Long Island Sound in the distance. We seemed to be on the porch of the Big House. Standing with his back to us at the railing was a sandy-haired guy in shorts and an orange tank top. He was holding a bronze sword and seemed to be staring intently at something down in the meadow.**

"Luke." Liam guessed. He got a few random stares but he didnt let it get to him.

"Wonderful." Ember muttered.

**"Luke!" I called.**

**He turned, eyes wide. I could swear he was standing three feet in front of me through a screen of mist, except I could only see the part of him that appeared in the rainbow.**

**"Percy!" His scarred face broke into a grin. "Is that Annabeth, too? Thank the gods! Are you guys okay?"**

**"We're … uh … fine," Annabeth stammered. She was madly straightening her dirty T-shirt, trying to comb the loose hair out of her face. "We thought—Chiron—I mean—"**

Annabeth flushed.

Grover bleated, "Always fixing her hair and stammering over Luke."

Annabeth burned brighter as she glared at Grover. "I did not! I just really wanted a shower."

Percy rolled his eyes with a grin. "Oh yeah. That's it."

Annabeth's look changed from embaressed to annoyed. "Thats enough from you, Seaweed Brain."

Percy laughed from his spot."Oh, Wise Girl."

Jason smirked. "And thats Annabeth. She normally doesnt judo flip people." He remembered that as the first introduction he gave of Annabeth to the Roman campers.

"Thats what you said when we first got to camp Jupiter." Leo realized.

Percy pulled his legs up onto the bench and sat with his legs crisscrossed. "Oh, she'll still do judo flips. Dont let her fool you."

"And dont you forget it!" Annabeth warned him before she stuck her nose back into the book.

Clarisse laughed at the way Percy had a mildly freaked out look on his face.

**"He's down at the cabins." Luke's smile faded. "We're having some issues with the campers. Listen, is everything cool with you? Is Grover all right?"**

**"I'm right here," Grover called. He held the nozzle out to one side and stepped into Luke's line of vision. "What kind of issues?"**

**Just then a big Lincoln Continental pulled into the car wash with its stereo turned to maximum hip-hop. As the car slid into the next stall, the bass from the subwoofers vibrated so much, it shook the pavement.**

**"Chiron had to-what's that noise?" Luke yelled.**

**"I'll take care of it.'" Annabeth yelled back, looking very relieved to have an excuse to get out of sight. "Grover, come on!**

**"What?" Grover said. "But-"**

**"Give Percy the nozzle and come on!" she ordered.**

**Grover muttered something about girls being harder to understand than the Oracle at Delphi, then he handed me the spray gun and followed Annabeth.**

"They are," Frank said. He had leaped from Hazel's arms and changed back into a person. Hazel pouted becauseshe lost her Pika-Frank. "Hard to understand." he clarified.

"They like to lead a guy on that they like them then crush their dreams." Connor said sadly.

"We love doing that." Rachel said sarcastically.

Most of the girls laughed while the boys kind of shrank back in their seats.

"Most fun thing ever." Christine giggled.

"Especially for the Aphrodite girls with their right of passage thing." Jonathan said. A few Aphrodite girls shot him resentful looks. Jonathan narrowed his eyes. "You guys started it when your cabin started ripping on Apollo's poetry."

**I readjusted the hose so I could keep the rainbow going and still see Luke.**

**"Chiron had to break up a fight," Luke shouted to me over the music. "Things are pretty tense here, Percy. Word leaked out about the Zeus-Poseidon standoff. We're still not sure how-probably the same scumbag who summoned the hellhound. **

"Heh heh! He insulted himself!" Travis noticed. He glanced at Katie, relieved to find her smiling. Just to see what would happen, he slipped his hand into Katie's. At first he thought she looked at their intwined hands and Travis thought she was going to slap him or worse - force him to eat whole grain cereal. His stomach flutteted happily when she mouthed 'i forgive you' and kiissed him on the cheek.

"Scumbag." Leo repeated in a made up accent, causing the people around him to laugh.

"Cant you ever be serious?" Reyna scolded him. She started feeling fidgety. She had been sitting for too long. She needed to stab something.

Leo shrugged. He also started feeling a little jumpy. He pulled out a few pipecleaners and a few wires to keep him busy while he listened.

**Now the campers are starting to take sides. It's shaping up like the Trojan War all over again. Aphrodite, Ares, and Apollo are backing Poseidon, more or less. ****Athena is backing Zeus."**

Faith snickered. "Oh the irony. Right, Ry?" She asked, turning toward Ryan.

The Athenian boy chuckled nervously. "Yeah..." Oh crap, how was he gonna say this to her?

**I shuddered to think that Clarisse's cabin would ever be on my dad's side for anything. In the next stall, I heard Annabeth and some guy arguing with each other, then the music's volume decreased drastically.**

"How'd you manage that, Annabeth?" Clarisse grinned wickedly.

Annabeth smiled, tossing her wavy hair back over her shoulder. The Aphrodite hair blessing had finally worn off and her wavy blond curls were finally back to its natural messiness. "Actually, it was Grover. He used his reed pipes to make a root climb up hos his leg. He screamed and left as soon as the root let gobof him."

"It was Annabeths idea though." Grover confessed modestly.

"So thats what that scream was..." Percy mused. He began stroking his chin the way Leo had been doing.

Piper touched a finger to the bridge of her nose. Everyone seemed to be suffering feom Leo-itis. She perked up a little when she remembered that it was at least entertaining to watch 2/3 of the time.

**"So what's your status?" Luke asked me. "Chiron will be sorry he missed you."**

**I told him pretty much everything, including my dreams. It felt so good to see him, to feel like I was back at camp even for a few minutes, that I didn't realize how long I had talked until the beeper went off on the spray machine, and I realized I only had one more minute before the water shut off.**

"And Luke didnt tell you anything, right, Chiron?"Chris asked.

Chiron nodded grimly. Most of what was explained in the book and therefore told to Luke never reached him until now.

**"I wish I could be there," Luke told me. "We can't help much from here, I'm afraid, but listen … it had to be Hades who took the master bolt. He was there at Olympus at the winter solstice. I was chaperoning a field trip and we saw him."**

"Always ripping on Pluto." Hazel scoffed.

"Yeah. As if its changed in the past 3000 years." Nico muttered back.

**"But Chiron said the gods can't take each other's magic items directly."**

**"That's true," Luke said, looking troubled. "Still … Hades has the helm of darkness. How could anybody else sneak into the throne room and steal the master bolt? You'd have to be invisible."**

**We were both silent, until Luke seemed to realize what he'd said.**

"Annabeth stole it?" Eliza Marie asked astonished.

"No. Luke stole the bolt." Percy told her calmly and gently.

Eliza Marie pouted. "But Luke is dead. Pollux told me!"

"Oh my gods!" Marc huffed annoyed.

"Little sisters." Pollux said, that response explaining itself. Several people nodded, thinking of their own younger siblings.

**"Oh, hey," he protested. "I didn't mean Annabeth. She and I have known each other forever. She would never … I mean, she's like a little sister to me."**

**I wondered if Annabeth would like that description. In the stall next to us, the music stopped completely. A man screamed in terror, car doors slammed, and the Lincoln peeled out of the car wash.**

**"You'd better go see what that was," Luke said. "Listen, are you wearing the flying shoes? I'll feel better if I know they've done you some good."**

**"Oh … uh, yeah!" I tried not to sound like a guilty liar.**

**"Yeah, they've come in handy."**

**"Really?" He grinned. "They fit and everything?"**

**The water shut off. The mist started to evaporate.**

**"Well, take care of yourself out there in Denver," Luke called, his voice getting fainter. "And tell Grover it'll be better this time! Nobody will get turned into a pine tree if he just—"**

Thalia inhaled sharply. "Zeus' Master Bolt! Luke you moron!"

"You alright?" Rachel asked.

Thalia nodded, grumbling about how Luke was purposely trying to degrade Grover's self esteem.

**But the mist was gone, and Luke's image faded to nothing. I was alone in a wet, empty car wash stall.**

**Annabeth and Grover came around the corner, laughing, but stopped when they saw my face. Annabeth's smile faded. "What happened, Percy? What did Luke say?"**

"Thats why you were laughing..." Percy was connecting the dots from the earlier explanation.

"Are you talking about the roots?" Tyson asked.

Percy nodded.

"Well yeah. We told you 3 minutes ago." Grover said.

Percy crossed his arms. "Well whatever."

**"Not much," I lied, my stomach feeling as empty as a Big Three cabin. "Come on, let's find some dinner."**

"Something tells me that a god is gonna bye you burgers." Nico said.

"No duh, Nico." Faith countered playfully, holding onto Ryan's hand.

Ryan fideted nervously, which Nico took notice in.

"I bet its Hermes." Rachel said.

"Nah. Apollo." Piper said, wringing her hands.

"Come on guys. It has got to be Mr D. He's a cool guy." Leo joked.

Hazel bit her lower lip. "Something tells me its not Dionysus."

"It couldnt be Ares." Conner said.

Percy, Annabeth, and Grover shared knowing looks.

**A few minutes later, we were sitting at a booth in a gleaming chrome diner. All around us, families were eating burgers and drinking malts and sodas.**

**Finally the waitress came over. She raised her eyebrow skeptically. "Well?"**

**I said, "We, um, want to order dinner."**

**"You kids have money to pay for it?"**

**Grover's lower lip quivered. I was afraid he would start bleating, or worse, start eating the linoleum. Annabeth looked ready to pass out from hunger.**

**I was trying to think up a sob story **

"Please tell me that it wasnt as outragious as orphans and a circus caravan." Travis pleaded.

"Knowing Kelp Head, he probably said something even more crazy." Thalia teased.

**for the waitress when a rumble shook the whole building; a motorcycle the size of a baby elephant had pulled up to the curb.**

"Big bike..." Hazel thought back to the elephant they had back at Camp Jupiter. Judging by Reyna's expression, she could tell that she was having the same thought. "Very big bike," Hazel concluded to herself.

**All conversation in the diner stopped. The motorcycle's headlight glared red. Its gas tank had flames painted on it, and a shotgun holster riveted to either side, complete with shotguns. The seat was leather-but leather that looked like … well, Caucasian human skin.**

**The guy on the bike would've made pro wrestlers run for Mama. He was dressed in a red muscle shirt and black jeans and a black leather duster, with a hunting knife strapped to his thigh. He wore red wraparound shades, and he had the cruelest, most brutal face I'd ever seen- handsome, I guess, but wicked-with an oily black crew cut and cheeks that were scarred from many, many fights. The weird thing was, I felt like I'd seen his face somewhere before.**

At the exact same time, Clarisse said, "Ares," while Frank said, "Mars."

Clarisse glared at Frank. "Ares."

Frank glared back, just a bit less intimidating. "Mars."

"Ares!"

"Mars!"

"Ares!"

"Mar—"

"Guys! He's the same person!" Katie interupted.

"No! Ares is—" Clarisse began.

Piper decided that it was time to end the silly argument. She flashed a smile at Clarisse. "Come on, Clarisse. Cant we just keep reading thr book?"

Clarisse glared at her in a way that made it seem like she forgot her train of thought. "Whatever. Princess, keep going."

"Dang..." Percy and Jason murmured at the same time.

"Not Hermes..." Rachel whispered to Katie. Katie nodded solemnly.

**As he walked into the diner, a hot, dry wind blew through the place. All the people rose, as if they were hypnotized, but the biker waved his hand dismissively and they all sat down again. Everybody went back to their conversations. The waitress blinked, as if somebody had just pressed the rewind button on her brain. She asked us again, "You kids have money to pay for it?"**

**The biker said, "It's on me." He slid into our booth, which was way too small for him, and crowded Annabeth against the window. ****He looked up at the waitress, who was gaping at him, and said, "Are you still here?"**

Annabeth wrinkled her nose, remembering how close Ares had been to her. It had really disturbed her.

**He pointed at her, and she stiffened. She turned as if she'd been spun around, then marched back toward the kitchen.**

**The biker looked at me. I couldn't see his eyes behind the red shades, but bad feelings started boiling in my stomach. Anger, resentment, bitterness. I wanted to hit a wall. I wanted to pick a fight with somebody. Who did this guy think he was?**

Several of the Ares kids high fived each other and started making weird sounds. "Ares! Ares! ARES!" they chanted.

**He gave me a wicked grin. "So you're old Seaweed's kid, huh?"**

"What kind of nickname is that?" Malcolm asked.

"A damn good one," A son of Ares fired back.

**I should've been surprised, or scared, but instead I felt like I was looking at my stepdad, Gabe. I wanted to rip this guy's head off. "What's it to you?"**

**Annabeth's eyes flashed me a warning. "Percy, this is-"**

**The biker raised his hand.**

**"S'okay," he said. "I don't mind a little attitude. Long as you remember who's the boss. You know who I am, little cousin?"**

**Then it struck me why this guy looked familiar. He had the same vicious sneer as some of the kids at Camp Half-Blood, the ones from cabin five.**

**"You're Clarisse's dad," I said. "Ares, god of war."**

"Why is it Clarisse's dad? Why not Damian's dad?" An Ares boy sneered at Percy. He was tall, easily six feet and had greasy brown hair like he hadnt showered in a week.

Percy frowned as he said, "Damian, youre not the one who tried sticking my head in a toilet. Stuff like that traumatizes you." He smirked at Clarisse. "Right, La Rue?"

Clarisse sneered at him. "Dont talk about me Prissy."

"Gods your apprehensive." Reyna crossed her arms.

"What was that?" Clarisse seethed, eyes flaring like how Ares did.

The daughter of Bellona didnt flinch. "I said that you're apprehensive."

Clarisse made a fist, but Chris held her back. "Ladies, nows not the time."

The two girls reluctantly turned their backs on each other.

"Da snap, Roman." Leo teased Reyna.

**Ares grinned and took off his shades. Where his eyes should've been, there was only fire, empty sockets glowing with miniature nuclear explosions. "That's right, punk. I heard you broke Clarisse's spear."**

**"She was asking for it."**

**"Probably. That's cool. I don't fight my kids' fights, you know? What I'm here for—I heard you were in town. I got a little proposition for you."**

"Thanks alot Ares..." Clarisse spat.

"I can only imagine what his preposition would be." Jason said, flipping his coin in his hand.

"Like eating babies." Marshall snapped.

**The waitress came back with heaping trays of food—cheeseburgers, fries, onion rings, and chocolate shakes.**

**Ares handed her a few gold drachmas.**

**She looked nervously at the coins. "But, these aren't…"**

**Ares pulled out his huge knife and started cleaning his fingernails. "Problem, sweetheart?"**

**The waitress swallowed, then left with the gold.**

"He sounds like an ex-con," Rachel said.

"He is one scary dude." Grover confirmed. He turned toward Percy.

Percy shrugged. "He never really scared me, i was just usually inhumanly angry."

"Not a real word." Annabeth told him.

**"You can't do that," I told Ares. "You can't just threaten people with a knife."**

**Ares laughed. "Are you kidding? I love this country. Best place since Sparta. Don't you carry a weapon, punk? You should. Dangerous world out there. Which brings me to my proposition. I need you to do me a favor."**

**"What favor could I do for a god?"**

**"Something a god doesn't have time to do himself. It's nothing much. I left my shield at an abandoned water park here in town. I was going on a little … date with my girlfriend. We were interrupted. I left my shield behind. I want you to fetch it for me."**

"Interupted my butt." Annabeth spat. "He totally planned that on purpose. He knew what the trap was, all at my expense."

Percy's expression darkened. "I know he did, the jerk." He got a few dirty looks from the Ares kids, but they ignored it.

"Why? What happened?" Jonathan asked.

Annabeth grumbled, "You'll see."

**"Why don't you go back and get it yourself?"**

**The fire in his eye sockets glowed a little hotter.**

**"Why don't I turn you into a prairie dog and run you over with my Harley? Because I don't feel like it. A god is giving you an opportunity to prove yourself, Percy Jackson. Will you prove yourself a coward?" He leaned forward. "Or maybe you only fight when there's a river to dive into, so your daddy can protect you."**

Percy chuckled. "Kind of funny how Ares threatened turning me into a prairie dog. Even though he didnt, i still ended up a guinea pig."

Annabeth laughed. "I was just thinking the same thing."

"How were you a guinea pig?" Jason wondered.

"Sea of Monsters. Circe's island." Percy answered.

"Medea's aunt?" Piper asked. She remembered something about Circe back when they had ended up in Medea's department store.

"Thats her." Annabeth nodded.

"That must have been a pleasent experience." Marc said.

**I wanted to punch this guy, but somehow, I knew he was waiting for that. Ares's power was causing my anger. He'd love it if I attacked. I didn't want to give him the satisfaction.**

**"We're not interested," I said. "We've already got a quest."**

"Disgracing Ares further by not accepting his challange Jackson?" Arena scowled at him.

Percy didnt have to turn around to know that Gary's twin sister was the one calling him out. Arena was big, nasty and meaner than almost anyone he knew. Though he'd hate to admit it, but Clarisse looked like fashion model and Hephaestus looked like a movie star when compared to Arena, thats how unfortunate looking she was.

**Ares's fiery eyes made me see things I didn't want to see-blood and smoke and corpses on the battlefield. "I know all about your quest, punk. When that item was first stolen, Zeus sent his best out looking for it: Apollo, Athena, Artemis, and me, naturally.**

"Artemis would have found if she had more time." Phoebe boasted.

Thalia nodded. "Definetly."

"Ares is definetly different from Mars..." Frank muttered.

**If I couldn't sniff out a weapon that powerful …" He licked his lips, as if the very thought of the master bolt made him hungry.**

**"Well … if I couldn't find it, you got no hope. Nevertheless, I'm trying to give you the benefit of the doubt. Your dad and I go way back.**

"Wow. Thanks alot Dad." Frank murmured.

"No hope is reassuring." Rachel responded.

**After all, I'm the one who told him my suspicions about old Corpse Breath."**

**"You told him Hades stole the bolt?"**

**"Sure. Framing somebody to start a war. Oldest trick in the book. I recognized it immediately. In a way, you got me to thank for your little quest."**

"Unless you're a hopeless romantic." Lacy sighed.

"And war starts because of a Romeo, Juliet deal." Piper added.

"Framing in just the most common." Clarisse stated matter of factly. Her dangerous glare dared anyone to say otherwise.

**"Thanks," I grumbled.**

**"Hey, I'm a generous guy. Just do my little job, and I'll help you on your way. I'll arrange a ride west for you and your friends."**

**"We're doing fine on our own."**

"How long is this chapter?" Leo groaned. "Im getting hungry."

"We know. You already gave the Demeter speech." Hazel assured him.

Annabeth skimmed through the rest of the chapter. "A little bit before halfway done."

Leo groaned before he continued to tinker with his wires.

**"Yeah, right. No money. No wheels. No clue what you're up against. Help me out, and maybe I'll tell you something you need to know. Something about your mom."**

**"My mom?"**

**He grinned. "That got your attention. The water park is a mile west on Delancy. You can't miss it. Look for the Tunnel of Love ride."**

"Love ride?" Hazel's eyebrows shot up. "This outta be interesting."

Thalia folded ber hands in her lap, a sly smile on her face. Her electric blue eyes flashed with electric currents. "My thoughts exactly Hazel..."

Percy and Annabeth blushed a deep crimson.

Ryan fidgeted even more. If the story was bringing up a love ride, things were really not going to get any easier for him.

**"What interrupted your date?" I asked. "Something scare you off?"**

**Ares bared his teeth, but I'd seen his threatening look before on Clarisse. There was something false about it, almost like he was nervous.**

"Better watch what you say Jackson!" A big ugly Ares girl threatened.

Percy fingered Riptide in his pocket, hoping things wouldnt get ugly.

**"You're lucky you met me, punk, and not one of the other Olympians. They're not as forgiving of rudeness as I am. I'll meet you back here when you're done. Don't disappoint me."**

Malcolm chuckled. "Athena would have blasted you into an owl."

"Aphrodite would have ruined your love life." Piper announced.

"Not like she already did that," Percy mumbled barely audible under his breath. Aphrodite had also had her fair share jacking up Annabeth's love life too.

"Zeus would blast you from the sky." Thalia said cheerfully, which several campers found unnerving.

"Same goes for Jupiter..." Jason agreed, eyeballing his sister.

"Mars," Frank began but Clarisse but in.

"Ares," Clarisse reinterated proudly, "would send your worst enemies to kill you slowly."

"Ah great. Here comes Nancy Bobofit." Percy muttered.

Grover snickered. "I wouldnt be surprised."

"Hades would guarentee a spot in the fields of punishment." Nico stated, glaring at Ryan. He could sense that he was gonna do something stupid and an Apollo girl was gonna be affected in a bad way.

"Hermes would prank your butt into next week." Conner said.

"Hecate would play horrible tricks of the Mist with your mind." Lou Ellen, the senior camper said.

"Make ya go insane." Travis agreed.

"Bellona would be just as cruel as Mars." Reyna narrowed her eyes at Clarisse. The two girls were more than likely to clash at one time or another, and Reyna wanted to be sure that she would reign triumphant. She noticed that most Ares kids worked more on offense than defense when in combat practices. That could prove useful information for Reyna...

"Apollo would tell a haiku." Sunny joked. Being a child of Apollo, she could pull that joke without retaliation. "Nah. He'd burn you up with the sun chariot or something."

"Artemis would shoot you down." Phoebe got a few timid stares."What?"

Annabeth cleared her throat. "Back to business."

Tyson grinned as Leo passed him a few pipe cleaners. "Sounds fun Annabeth."

**After that I must have fainted, or fallen into a trance, because when I opened my eyes again, Ares was gone. I might've thought the conversation had been a dream, but Annabeth and Grover's expressions told me otherwise.**

**"Not good," Grover said. "Ares sought you out, Percy. This is not good."**

**I stared out the window. The motorcycle had disappeared.**

**Did Ares really know something about my mom, or was he just playing with me? Now that he was gone, all the anger had drained out of me. I realized Ares must love to mess with people's emotions. That was his power-cranking up the passions so badly, they clouded your ability to think.**

**"It's probably some kind of trick," I said. "Forget Ares. Let's just go."**

**"We can't," Annabeth said. "Look, I hate Ares as much as anybody, but you don't ignore the gods unless you want serious bad fortune. He wasn't kidding about turning you into a rodent."**

"Hate Ares?" Gary growled.

Mitchell held up a palm. "I dont see what Mom sees in Ares anyway."

"What was that cornball?" Damian demanded.

"I think Aphrodite would have been better off with Hephaestus. " Nyssa agreed, ignoring the glares from the Ares campers.

Leo looked befuddled. "Then me and Piper would be brother and sister?"

"Half brother and sister." Piper clarified.

"Im surprised you figured that out yourself Leo." Hazel teased.

Leo pouted.

**I looked down at my cheeseburger, which suddenly didn't seem so appetizing. "Why does he need us?"**

**"Maybe it's a problem that requires brains," Annabeth said. "Ares has strength. That's all he has. Even strength has to bow to wisdom sometimes."**

"No it doesnt!" A seven year old Ares kid spat, sticking his tongue out at Percy.

Percy stuck his tongue out back at the little brat.

Clarisse smacked the kid on the back of the head. "Shut up. Dont be a moron, Mason."

Annabeth restrained a laugh. At least Clarisse had changed from the brute force machine she had once been and had some common sense.

**"But this water park … he acted almost scared. What would make a war god run away like that?"**

**Annabeth and Grover glanced nervously at each other.**

**Annabeth said, "I'm afraid we'll have to find out."**

"Like Hephaestus' sweet traps, eh?" Jake smiled.

Annabeth shivered as well as her face turning slightly pink. "Jake, some traps are not kind to the children of Athena."

**The sun was sinking behind the mountains by the time we found the water park. Judging from the sign, it once had been called WATERLAND, but now some of the letters were smashed out, so it read WAT R A D.**

"Almost says Wattpad." Lacy noted. "I used to have one."

"I used to too." Christine admitted.

**The main gate was padlocked and topped with barbed wire. Inside, huge dry waterslides and tubes and pipes curled everywhere, leading to empty pools. Old tickets and advertisements fluttered around the asphalt. With night coming on, the place looked sad and creepy.**

Conner, Travis, and Marc shared an excited look. "That would be sooo awesome!" Marc exclaimed.

Travis rubbed his hands together, a creepy grin on his face. "An abandoned water park? Best place for a prank!"

"Or a wicked blow out party!" Conner added.

Katie looked to Rachel for help, since the redheaded Oracle was sitting to her right. "Why? Why would they want to have a party at a creepy waterpark in Denver?"

Rachel gave her a sympathetic look. "They are Stolls, Katie."

**"If Ares brings his girlfriend here for a date," I said, staring up at the barbed wire, "I'd hate to see what she looks like."**

**"Percy," Annabeth warned. "Be more respectful."**

**"Why? I thought you hated Ares."**

**"He's still a god. And his girlfriend is very temperamental."**

**"You don't want to insult her looks," Grover added.**

"Yeah." Piper agreed. "The last guy who insulted her looks, she made him fall in love with a drug addict."

"Mmm-hmmm. How nice of her..." Percy geunted under his breath. He was really getting ripped on by everyone from Aphrodite and and Ares today.

Grover sighed dreamily. "Artemis and Aphrodite."

**"Who is she? Echidna?"**

**"No, Aphrodite," Grover said, a little dreamily. "Goddess of love."**

**"I thought she was married to somebody," I said. "Hephaestus."**

"She is." Nyssa folded her arms.

"Ares is better." Garry, Arena's twin shot back.

**"What's your point?" he asked.**

**"Oh." I suddenly felt the need to change the subject. "So how do we get in?"**

**"Maia!" Grover's shoes sprouted wings.**

"Thats my grandma on my Dad's side." A daughter of Hermes said.

"Thats right. Maia was Hermes mother." Percy remembered. He had always thought that the term sounded familiar.

**He flew over the fence, did an unintended somersault in midair, then stumbled to a landing on the opposite side. He dusted off his jeans, as if he'd planned the whole thing. "You guys coming?"**

**Annabeth and I had to climb the old-fashioned way, holding down the barbed wire for each other as we crawled over the top.**

**The shadows grew long as we walked through the park, checking out the attractions. There was Ankle Biter Island, Head Over Wedgie, and Dude, Where's My Swimsuit?**

"Some of those rides dont sound very fun." Thalia frowned.

"Or appropriate." Jason said.

Chris smirked. "The 'Wheres My Swimsuit' one sounds like skinny dipping or something." He got several unamused glares from girls and guys everywhere.

Clarisse pushed him on the shoulder, although she was laughing a little. "Chris, you sicko!"

**No monsters came to get us. Nothing made the slightest noise.**

**We found a souvenir shop that had been left open. Merchandise still lined the shelves: snow globes, pencils, postcards, and racks of-**

**"Clothes," Annabeth said. "Fresh clothes."**

**"Yeah," I said. "But you can't just-"**

**"Watch me."**

**She snatched an entire row of stuff of the racks and disappeared into the changing room. A few minutes later she came out in Waterland flower-print shorts, a big red Waterland T-shirt, and commemorative Waterland surf shoes. A Waterland backpack was slung over her shoulder, obviously stuffed with more goodies.**

"Im so glad ive rubbed off on you Annabeth." Conner joked.

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Yeah. Thats it."

"If it was anyone, it was Luke." Thalia said. "That boy could shoplift an entire gas station and no one would ever know."

"Like Piper charmspeaking to get a BMW." Leo pointed out.

Piper flushed. "Hey. I returned it."

"Hey, i stole a cop cruiser a little bit back." Percy admitted. Conner and Travis laughed, clapping Percy on the back.

**"What the heck." Grover shrugged. Soon, all three of us were decked out like walking advertisements for the defunct theme park.**

**We continued searching for the Tunnel of Love. I got the feeling that the whole park was holding its breath. "So Ares and Aphrodite," I said, to keep my mind off the growing dark, "they have a thing going?"**

**"That's old gossip, Percy," Annabeth told me. "Three-thousand-year-old gossip."**

**"What about Aphrodite's husband?"**

**"Well, you know," she said. "Hephaestus. The blacksmith. He was crippled when he was a baby, thrown off Mount Olympus by Zeus. So he isn't exactly handsome. Clever with his hands, and all, but Aphrodite isn't into brains and talent, you know?"**

"Brains and talent!" Leo boasted proudly. "Hear that Zahng?"

Frank rolled his eyes. "I dont see you changing into Pikachu."

Leo raised an eyebrow. "Really? You had to bring that into this?"

Frank shrugged.

**"She likes bikers."**

**"Whatever."**

**"Hephaestus knows?"**

**"Oh sure," Annabeth said. "He caught them together once. I mean, literally caught them, in a golden net, and invited all the gods to come and laugh at them. Hephaestus is always trying to embarrass them. That's why they meet in out-of-the-way places, like …"**

**She stopped, looking straight ahead. "Like that."**

**In front of us was an empty pool that would've been awesome for skateboarding. It was at least fifty yards across and shaped like a bowl.**

**Around the rim, a dozen bronze statues of Cupid stood guard with wings spread and bows ready to fire. On the opposite side from us, a tunnel opened up, probably where the water flowed into when the pool was full. The sign above it read, THRILL RIDE O' LOVE: THIS IS NOT YOUR PARENTS' TUNNEL OF LOVE!**

Percy threw his arms in the air. "What kind of advertisement is that? Its so corny."

Annabeth bit her lower lip and nodded. "Especially with all the lame stuff inside the tunnel."

Percy bobbed his head. "Yeah. That place was bull."

Rachel raised an eyebrow. "You guys went on it together?"

Percy shrugged with a blush.

Leo wiggled his eyebrows.

"No-i-we-he! Gah!" Annabeth stuttered. She blushed and read the book.

**Grover crept toward the edge. "Guys, look."**

**Marooned at the bottom of the pool was a pink-and-white two-seater boat with a canopy over the top and little hearts painted all over it. In the left seat, glinting in the fading light, was Ares's shield, a polished circle of bronze.**

**"This is too easy," I said. "So we just walk down there and get it?"**

**Annabeth ran her fingers along the base of the nearest Cupid statue.**

**"There's a Greek letter carved here," she said. "Eta. I wonder …"**

"H." Annabeth muttered. Why couldnt she have put two and two together before?

"Hephaestus!" Cabin nine chanted.

"Ares!" Cabin five yelled back.

Chiron clicked his tongue as well as stomp his hooves. "Enough of this."

**"Grover," I said, "you smell any monsters?"**

**He sniffed the wind. "Nothing."**

**"Nothing like in-the-Arch-and-you-didn't-smell-Echidna nothing, or really nothing?"**

"Burn." Marc murmured.

**Grover looked hurt. "I told you, that was underground."**

**"Okay, I'm sorry." I took a deep breath. "I'm going down there."**

**"I'll go with you." Grover didn't sound too enthusiastic, but I got the feeling he was trying to make up for what had happened in St. Louis.**

**"No," I told him. "I want you to stay up top with the flying shoes. You're the Red Baron, a flying ace, remember? I'll be counting on you for backup, in case something goes wrong."**

"Amazing what kind of rep you get after smacking Medusa in the head a few times." Percy joked. He got Grover in a noogy and messed up his curly hair.

Grover pulled his head out of the tight grip. "Woah man. Boundries." He tried keeping a straight face but the two friends burst out laughing.

**Grover puffed up his chest a little. "Sure. But what could go wrong?"**

**"I don't know. Just a feeling. Annabeth, come with me-"**

**"Are you kidding?" She looked at me as if I'd just dropped from the moon. Her cheeks were bright red.**

**"What's the problem now?" I demanded.**

**"Me, go with you to the … the 'Thrill Ride of Love'? How embarrassing is that? What if solmebody saw me?"**

Annabeth burned bright red and Percy blew her a kiss as the coliseum erupted with laughter. Annabeth frowned, but her bright red cheeks didnt make her look very threatening. "Percy!"

Percy grinned. "You're the one who pointed it out Wise Girl!"

"You guys are just too cute!" Lacy squealed happily.

Piper thought about Iit as she smiled at the distress the two senior campers were in as they had a heated conversation. She wondered if Aphrodite set this up before hand to help get the two together. When she saw a white dove land in a tree not that away from her, she was convinced that she was right.

"Who would see you anyways?" Jason asked. "Theres nobody around!"

Annabeth's eye twitched as if she were getting ready to gut everyone in the aritium the same way Octavian butchers stuffed animals.

The only two who werent enjoying it was Phoebe and Carmen who could care less about boys.

**"Who's going to see you?" But my face was burning now, too. Leave it to a girl to make everything complicated. "Fine," I told her. "I'll do it myself." But when I started down the side of the pool, she followed me, muttering about how boys always messed things up.**

"They do always mess things up!" Phoebe agreed.

**We reached the boat. The shield was propped on one seat, and next to it was a lady's silk scarf. I tried to imagine Ares and Aphrodite here, a couple of gods meeting in a junked-out amusement-park ride. Why? Then I noticed something I hadn't seen from up top: mirrors all the way around the rim of the pool, facing this spot. We could see ourselves no matter which direction we looked. That must be it. While Ares and Aphrodite were smooching with each other they could look at their favorite people: themselves.**

Everyone, even the Ares and Aphrodite kids, turned up their noses at that. It was just to weird.

"That is really creepy." Faith managed to choke out.

Tyson scrunched up his nose. "uhhhh..."

"My thoughts exactly Tyson." Hazel said.

**I picked up the scarf. It shimmered pink, and the perfume was indescribable-rose, or mountain laurel. Something good. I smiled, a little dreamy, and was about to rub the scarf against my cheek when Annabeth ripped it out of my hand and stuffed it in her pocket. "Oh, no you don't. Stay away from that love magic."**

"Awwwwwe!" The Aphrodite kids cooed.

Percy blew another kiss to Annabeth. Annabeth blushed a little bit as she reached her hand out to catch the kiss and pull it close to her heart.

More of their friends cooed at their cute~ness.

Faith sighed dreamily, leaning against Ryan, holding onto his hand. Ryan stiffened at her touch.

**"What?"**

**"Just get the shield, Seaweed Brain, and let's get out of here."**

**The moment I touched the shield, I knew we were in trouble. My hand broke through something that had been connecting it to the dashboard. A cobweb, I thought, but then I looked at a strand of it on my palm and saw it was some kind of metal filament, so fine it was almost invisible. A trip wire.**

**"Wait," Annabeth said.**

**"Too late."**

"Thank you, Captain Obvious." Jason said sarcastically.

"Chill out, Grace." Percy shot back.

**"There's another Greek letter on the side of the boat, another Eta. This is a trap."**

**Noise erupted all around us, of a million gears grinding, as if the whole pool were turning into one giant machine.**

**Grover yelled, "Guys!"**

**Up on the rim, the Cupid statues were drawing their bows into firing position. Before I could suggest taking cover, they shot, but not at us. They fired at each other, across the rim of the pool. Silky cables trailed from the arrows, arcing over the pool and anchoring where they landed to form a huge golden asterisk. Then smaller metallic threads started weaving together magically between the main strands, making a net.**

"Hmmmm." Leo began recounting how his dad was able to build such a complex trap. He started weaving his pipe cleaners and wire to make another smaller version of the trap.

**"We have to get out," I said.**

**"Duh!" Annabeth said.**

**I grabbed the shield and we ran, but going up the slope of the pool was not as easy as going down.**

**"Come on!" Grover shouted.**

**He was trying to hold open a section of the net for us, but wherever he touched it, the golden threads started to wrap around his hands.**

**The Cupids' heads popped open. Out came video cameras. Spotlights rose up all around the pool, blinding us with illumination, and a loudspeaker voice boomed: "Live to Olympus in one minute … Fifty-nine seconds, fifty-eight …"**

**"Hephaestus!" Annabeth screamed. "I'm so stupid.' Eta is H.' He made this trap to catch his wife with Ares. Now we're going to be broadcast live to Olympus and look like absolute fools!"**

"Hermes told me we got good views though." Percy said.

"When did he tell you that?" Grover asked.

Percy creased his lips. "Uh, i think it was over winter break after the whole Golden Fleece fiasco."

Annabeth raised an eyebrow, grey eyes looking stormy. "Why didn't you ever tell me?"

"Must have escaped my mind." Percy replied sheepishly.

"Alot of things escape your mind, Kelp Head." Thalia joked.

**We'd almost made it to the rim when the row of mirrors opened like hatches and thousands of tiny metallic … things poured out.**

**Annabeth screamed. ****It was an army of wind-up creepy-crawlies: bronze-gear bodies, spindly legs, little pincer mouths, all scuttling toward us in a wave of clacking, whirring metal.**

"Spiders!" Maria from Athena exclaimed in horror.

"AHHHH!" A majority of the Athena kids shrieked.

"How did you not become petrified?" Malcolm demamnded in awe.

Annabeth's eyes went blank as she remembered the awful creepy crawlies. She directed her attention back to the book.

**"Spiders!" Annabeth said. "Sp-sp-aaaah!"**

**I'd never seen her like this before. She fell backward in terror and almost got overwhelmed by the spider robots before I pulled her up and dragged her back toward the boat.**

**The things were coming out from all around the rim now, millions of them, flooding toward the center of the pool, completely surrounding us. I told myself they probably weren't programmed to kill, just corral us and bite us and make us look stupid. Then again, this was a trap meant for gods. And we weren't gods.**

**Annabeth and I climbed into the boat. I started kicking away the spiders as they swarmed aboard. I yelled at Annabeth to help me, but she was too paralyzed to do much more than scream.**

"And thats the price for going into the Tunnel of Love." Jason teased.

"Shut up Jason." Percy mumbled. "It was actually funny when it was all over."

"Maybe for you." Annabeth muttered.

**"Thirty, twenty-nine," called the loudspeaker.**

**The spiders started spitting out strands of metal thread, trying to tie us down. The strands were easy enough to break at first, but there were so many of them, and the spiders just kept coming. I kicked one away from Annabeth's leg and its pincers took a chunk out of my new surf shoe.**

**Grover hovered above the pool in his flying sneakers, trying to pull the net loose, but it wouldn't budge.**

**Think, I told myself. Think.**

**The Tunnel of Love entrance was under the net. We could use it as an exit, except that it was blocked by a million robot spiders.**

**"Fifteen, fourteen," the loudspeaker called.**

**Water, I thought. Where does the ride's water come from?**

**Then I saw them: huge water pipes behind the mirrors, where the spiders had come from. And up above the net, next to one of the Cupids, a glass-windowed booth that must be the controller's station.**

**"Grover!" I yelled. "Get into that booth! Find the 'on' switch!"**

**"But-"**

**"Do it!" It was a crazy hope, but it was our only chance. The spiders were all over the prow of the boat now. Annabeth was screaming her head off. I had to get us out of there.**

**Grover was in the controller's booth now, slamming away at the buttons.**

"Leo would have climbed right inside and found the right button right away." Piper said, remembering back to when she, Jason, Leo, and Coach Hedge had to resucue her dad from the giant on Mount Diablo.

"Yeah. Especially since he could just listen to a helicopter and know what the cruise control was." Jason added.

Leo beamed. "22 knots. I remember Bell412."

**"Five, four-"**

**Grover looked up at me hopelessly, raising his hands. He was letting me know that he'd pushed every button, but still nothing was happening.**

**I closed my eyes and thought about waves, rushing water, the Mississippi River. I felt a familiar tug in my gut. I tried to imagine that I was dragging the ocean all the way to Denver.**

**"Two, one, zero!"**

"It skipped three!" Frank exclaimed.

"Not that big a deal, Frank." Nico told him.

**Water exploded out of the pipes. It roared into the pool, sweeping away the spiders. I pulled Annabeth into the seat next to me and fastened her seat belt just as the tidal wave slammed into our boat, over the top, whisking the spiders away and dousing us completely, but not capsizing us. The boat turned, lifted in the flood, and spun in circles around the whirlpool.**

**The water was full of short-circuiting spiders, some of them smashing against the pool's concrete wall with such force they burst.**

**Spotlights glared down at us. The Cupid-cams were rolling, live to Olympus.**

"We sould have our own reality show for Olympus!" Connersuggested to Travis.

Travis' lips curled into a grin. "We would become famous! Stoll Brother TV!"

"Yeah, guys," Chris said gently. "Our lives are already a reality TV show."

"And Percy and Annabeth are the gods' favorite channel." Rachel added helpfully.

"That is spirit lifting." Travis mumbled.

**But I could only concentrate on controlling the boat. I willed it to ride the current, to keep away from the wall. Maybe it was my imagination, but the boat seemed to respond. At least, it didn't break into a million pieces. We spun around one last time, the water level now almost high enough to shred us against the metal net. Then the boat's nose turned toward the tunnel and we rocketed through into the darkness.**

**Annabeth and I held tight, both of us screaming as the boat shot curls and hugged corners and took forty-five-degree plunges past pictures of Romeo and Juliet and a bunch of other Valentine's Day stuff.**

"That is just unfortunate." Piper grumbled.

"Very." Mitchell agreed.

**Then we were out of the tunnel, the night air whistling through our hair as the boat barreled straight toward the exit.**

**If the ride had been in working order, we would've sailed off a ramp between the golden Gates of Love and splashed down safely in the exit pool. But there was a problem. The Gates of Love were chained. Two boats that had been washed out of the tunnel before us were now piled against the barricade-one submerged, the other cracked in half.**

**"Unfasten your seat belt," I yelled to Annabeth.**

**"Are you crazy?"**

**"Unless you want to get smashed to death." I strapped Ares's shield to my arm. "We're going to have to jump for it." My idea was simple and insane. As the boat struck, we would use its force like a springboard to jump the gate. I'd heard of people surviving car crashes that way, getting thrown thirty or forty feet away from an accident. With luck, we would land in the pool.**

**Annabeth seemed to understand. She gripped my hand as the gates got closer.**

"If anyone says that they're cute one more time, then i'll rip you head off!" Clarisse announced just as the Aphrodite girls were about to comment.

**"On my mark," I said.**

**"No! On my mark!"**

**"What?"**

**"Simple physics!" she yelled. "Force times the trajectory angle-"**

**"Fine." I shouted. "On your mark!"**

**She hesitated … hesitated … then yelled, "Now!"**

_**Crack!**_

**Annabeth was right. ****If we'd jumped when I thought we should've, we would've crashed into the gates. **

"That would have been a painful death." Carmen pointed out.

"That would've made Medusa's offer more inviting." Phoebe bobbed her head.

**She got us maximum lift.**

**Unfortunately, that was a little more than we needed. Our boat smashed into the pileup and we were thrown into the air, straight over the gates, over the pool, and down toward solid asphalt.**

Rachel winced. "Yeah, Medusa's offer _is_ looking better."

"Two red smears on the landscape." Clarisse joked darkly.

"Well obviously we weren't." Annabeth shot back.

Clarisse sneered a bit. "Relax, Princess."

**Something grabbed me from behind.**

**Annabeth yelled, "Ouch!"**

**Grover! ****In midair, he had grabbed me by the shirt, and Annabeth by the arm, and was trying to pull us out of a crash landing, but Annabeth and I had all the momentum.**

**"You're too heavy!" Grover said. "We're going down!"**

**We spiraled toward the ground, Grover doing his best to slow the fall.**

**We smashed into a photo-board, Grover's head going straight into the hole where tourists would put their faces, pretending to be Noo-Noo the Friendly Whale. Annabeth and I tumbled to the ground, banged up but alive. Ares's shield was still on my arm.**

"Noo-noo was the name of my webkinz puppy, like, 7 years ago." Faith giggled. Then she frowned. "I haven't been able to go on since i found out i was a demigod. You know, the electronic stuff attracting monsters? Dang i miss them!" She whined, pulling her long dark hair down from the bun on her head so that the long fibers cascaded down her back and flowed around her face.

Nico grinned. She liked webkinz the same way he liked Mythomagic.

"You play with webkinz?" A girl from Nemesis scoffed.

Faith shot her a look. "I collect the stuffed animals, but like i said, i haven't played on them in 7 years."

**Once we caught our breath, Annabeth and I got Grover out of the photo-board and thanked him for saving our lives. I looked back at the Thrill Ride of Love. The water was subsiding. Our boat had been smashed to pieces against the gates.**

**A hundred yards away, at the entrance pool, the Cupids were still filming. The statues had swiveled so that their cameras were trained straight on us, the spotlights in our faces.**

**"Show's over!" I yelled. "Thank you! Good night!"**

**The Cupids turned back to their original positions. The lights shut off. The park went quiet and dark again, except for the gentle trickle of water into the Thrill Ride of Love's exit pool. I wondered if Olympus had gone to a commercial break, or if our ratings had been any good.**

"Probably voice activated." Leo mused.

"Or Zeus flipped the channel after they made it out alive." Thalia suggested.

"Maybe a bit of both?" Katie said.

**I hated being teased. I hated being tricked. And I had plenty of experience handling bullies who liked to do that stuff to me. I hefted the shield on my arm and turned to my friends. "We need to have a little talk with Ares."**

Annabeth closed the book, relieved she made it through the chapter without her head exploding. Getting to her feet, Annabeth marched toward Chiron. "Thanks. You totally did that on purpose!"

Chiron shrugged, flicking his tail guiltily. "I thought it could be amusing."

Ryan turned to Faith, taking the argument between Annabeth and Chiron as an opening. "Hey, Faith?"

Faith turned toward him, her sparkling brown eyes boring into him. "Yeah?" she asked sweetly.

Ryan gulped, his face heating up with anxiety. "I um have been thinking about this for a long time."

"Yeah?" she asked again. She had a knot of nervousness in the pit of her stomach as she watched him. Something bad was coming, she could tell.

Ryan rubbed his wrists. "I just don't think that things are working between us anymore."

Faith dropped her jaw. Tears started forming in her eyes. "Wha-what? Why?"

Ryan grabbed hold of her hands and held them tightly as if that could make it better. "I just don't think that we're on the same page anymore."

Faith wripped her hands away from him and strangled her hair. "Not on the same page?" she cried, tears pouring from her eyes. Other campers were starting to take notice but she didn't care. A pair of hands touched her shoulder, and she immediatly recognized Jonathan's comforting grip.

Ryan's face was burning red—he hated attention. "Hey. Don't cry! Everything-"

She jumped to her feet, neon orange converse stomping against the rock bleachers. "Don't cry? How can you say that?!" she screamed at him. By now, everyone was watching them with confused expressions.

Nico was glaring at Ryan with fire in his eyes.

"Faith? Are you alright?" Annabeth called out to her, abandoning her argument with Chiron. Chiron looked equally distressed.

Faith wiped her congested nose on her bare arm. The front of her orange camp shirt was damp from her tears, and her cheeks were tear stained. Instead of answering, she staggered through the crowds of staring people that separated her from the ground. As soon as her feet slapped the ground, she darted straight for the woods, brown hair whipping behind her like a tail. Her sobbing was audiable for a minute before it disipated into the forest.

Annabeth fixed an angry look on her younger half-brother. "Ryan, what did you do?"

* * *

**This chapter was really long and sorry if anyone was out of character. i was pretty pissed when i typed this if you haven't noticed. **

**hope you liked it though. soon there will be faith/nico fluff now that i DONT have a boyfriend anymore...**

**:'(**

**(in other news: i was thinking about a Reyna vs Clarisse thing since they both have war god 'rents. what do ya think?)**


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